A giant motel sign, a ghost town, a beautiful evening, and a camera. This is how I created this night selfie through light painting.
The above night selfie photo is a blend. The base photo is 2 minutes f/8 ISO 200. The selfie photo was 3 seconds f/3.5 ISO 3200. I almost used the selfie photo exclusively because it was so surprisingly clean. Ultimately, I decided to use the 2-minute photo because the colors on the motel sign were more vivid due to the light painting I added. I did this during our Nelson Night Photography Workshop earlier this month. I used a Pentax K-1 DSLR camera and a Feisol tripod to keep it all steady.
What is light painting?
Light painting is a term that is often used loosely to describe any addition of light to a night photograph. Really, though, light painting is a technique that uses a handheld light source to illuminate a scene during a long exposure. You are quite literally painting the scene with light. Night photographers have used this technique for many decades.
Three steps to creating the photo
Step one: Low-ISO photo
I took a two-minute low-ISO photo of the motel sign during a full moon. During this photo, I also light painted the enormous motel sign from camera right. Why that direction? The moon was shining from the right side, and I wanted to mimic the moonlight so it would look more natural.
Step two: High-ISO photo
I took a second photo. This one was a three-second high-ISO photo of the motel sign with me standing there. The moon was shining nicely in this area. I knew if I stood there, the moon would illuminate me nicely and in the same way as the natural moonlight and light painting that the previous photo had done.
Step three: Blending
On my computer, I simply layered the second photo on top of the first one in Photoshop CC. This was because it was taken at a higher ISO. After all, I wanted it to blend nicely with the first photo, which had less noise.
Then, using a black Layer Mask on the second photo, I simply brushed the image of myself into the photo. Done!
Bonus tips for making your night selfie look great
If you blend a second image with yourself in the photo, try to apply noise reduction to match the first image. You’re trying to make it look like you were actually standing perfectly still for the longer exposure. I used Lightroom Classic Denoise AI to do this before sending it to Photoshop. I could have just as easily used Topaz Labs Denoise AI, which is also very capable.
Always blend in your shadow. This gets overlooked a surprising amount. Unless you’re going for a vampire look, blending in your shadow makes the photo look natural.
I can’t seem to stand very still, and even three seconds sometimes seems challenging. To keep still so you come out nice and sharp in your image, sit or lean against something. If you cannot do this, I’ve found that having a wide stance often helps me to keep more still.
You don’t have to use Photoshop for this. GIMP or anything else that uses Layers and Layer Masks will work.
I’m hardly a Photoshop guru. If I can blend this, YOU can too. It’s just like painting. Relax and brush, brush, brush …
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
“Why don’t you show up in your night photos?” The answer to this invisibility is fascinating. Best of all, it’s fun and easy to do.
Time is your friend
Light painting images, even during a full moon, often involve long exposures. Many of my photos with light painting have long exposures of two minutes or more.
A night photographer’s superpower is invisibility
You and I as night photographers have this incredible superpower. But remember, with great power comes great responsibility.
Generally speaking, you need to stand still for at least 10 percent of the total exposure length of a photo to even begin to register. For a two-minute exposure, that’s 12 seconds. And at 12 seconds, you might just barely “register” in the photo, most likely as a slightly darkened spot in the image.
I wandered through the scene to get this soft but detailed look with the Joshua Trees.
If it takes two minutes to produce a properly-exposed photo, you would need to stand still for two minutes to be properly exposed.
If you stand still for one minute, you would look like a ghost.
If you stood still for 30 seconds, you would appear very faintly in the image.
And by 15 seconds or 12 seconds, you might appear as a very faint smudge that might not be all that noticeable, depending on which part of the image you’re in.
In other words, keep moving and you will be invisible. Now that’s an incredible superpower!
How to make sure you remain invisible
Don’t flash yourself
You’ll want to avoid shining the flashlight on you. There have been times in which my hands or feet or face have appeared in an image because I’ve mistakenly shined the light there. It happens! Sometimes, night photographers are momentarily stripped of our superpower.
Don’t shine the flashlight into the camera
I wandered all around this scene to be able to light this giant boulder in this manner. Joshua Tree National Park, CA.
I stood still long enough to fully register in this photo. You can see the dark clothing I often wear for night photography with light painting.
The easiest step to take is to wear dark clothing. Black or super dark clothing absorbs much of the light you are using. I often wear a black hoodie so more of my head is covered. I even have dark gloves for those moments when the light is reflecting back on my hands.
Save those white shoes and pants for your beach trip.
The shorter the exposure, the more you have to move. Remember that 10% guideline I mentioned before? The longer the exposure, the easier it is to remain invisible.
Invisibility can be your superpower too
Just remember to practice these things whenever possible, keep moving, and be mindful of the light. But know that you can continually walk through the frame of your long exposure image and still not be seen.
Did you know that other photographers can turn people invisible too?
Night photographers are not the only ones who can turn people invisible in their images. Many architectural photographers want to photograph buildings without people showing up in their images. How do they do this?
They could clear the streets. Or they might use an ND filter to darken the incoming light to their lens so they can use a long exposure in their image. If people are walking past, they will become invisible. They turn invisible due to the same principle I’ve described in this article!
Can you think of any other kinds of photography in which you might want to render something moving invisible through long exposure photography?
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
Want an inexpensive way to reflect and direct the light from your flash or speedlight? Here’s some easy ways of doing just that!
Why should you reflect light from your flash or speedlight?
Illuminating your subject with a flash or speedlight aiming directly at it can look flat and harsh. Furthermore, if photographing people, it can produce “red eye.” The camera flash can reflect off their retina and appear red in the photograph.
Reflected light can look more pleasing and natural. One way of doing this is to aim your flash or speedlight away from the subject. That’s right, not directly at them. Instead, we can achieve some better light by aiming the flash at a white ceiling or white wall. This will bounce the light at the subject instead.
Another way is to aim the flash into a reflector. This often has the bonus of illuminating the subject with both the reflector as well as bounced light from the ceiling or wall.
Reflector
Using the Rogue Flashbender Reflector indoors.
For several years, I have used a light modifier called a Rogue Flashbender Reflector to reflect light from my flash. As a bonus, I can also use this to direct the light. I can bend this back or forward as necessary to determine how much light went forward or to the side. You simply bend it and it stays in that position. This setup gives me instant flexibility. When photographing people, it can also create catchlights in the eyes in almost any configuration, particularly when used with a flash bracket.
I sometimes use an inexpensive Stroboframe Quick Flip 350 Flash Bracket along with the Rogue Flashbender Reflector. This creates an off-camera flash. After all, using a flash can be a little harsh when mounted on the camera. This gets the flash off the camera and creates an even more pleasing reflected light. It is a little clumsy and heavy to hold, though.
Using the Rogue Flashbender Reflector with Stroboframe Quick Flip 350 Flash Bracket to photograph. This works inside or outside with ease. You’ll notice that they are evenly lit? I used the Inverse Square Law of Light, backing up so I was approximately the same distance from all seven of the people I was photographing.
You can use the Rogue Flashbender Reflector, with or without the flash bracket, for parties, events, birthdays, gatherings, protests, and photojournalism with good results. And don’t forget that you can also direct the light by bending it to where you want easily and quickly!
Bonus: Batch-processing 100 of these photos in five minutes
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
Photographing in bad weather can be good! My friend and I photographed some of the 4,000 abandoned cars in an eerie and rainy forest at night. Here’s how our wet weather adventure went!
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld RGB Critter 2.0 during a long exposure night photo.
Tim Little and I pulled up to Old Car City USA in rural Georgia in the late afternoon. Hopping over puddles to get to the main office, we met Dean, the owner, and Mike, one of the employees. Then we headed out into the forest to see some of the many rusty, vintage vehicles, many covered in moss, pine needles, leaves, and beaded water.
Thankfully, after a while, we noticed that the rain was letting up, just as Clear Outside and other weather apps had predicted. However, the rain continued dripping off the branches and leaves even after the rain had largely dissipated. Thankfully, we didn’t get too wet, although Tim discovered that his waterproof boots weren’t so waterproof.
We wandered around the area. We saw sections devoted to 1930s-40s vehicles, trucks, 1950s cars, and far more. The 4000 automobiles in 32 acres and seven miles of trails snaking through the forest were overwhelming.
“I’m walking in circles!”
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld RGB Critter 2.0 during a long exposure night photo.
By the time we began photographing at night, the rain had gone away, although still dripping from the leaves and branches. Fog began rolling in.
I began by attempting to find the 1930s-40s vehicles, located in the far corner of the forest property. I had used the nearby road for orientation. However, I couldn’t do this any longer because there were few cars and I couldn’t hear them. I also couldn’t usually see where the moon was. I would take a trail, only to find that I had circled back to the ice cream truck near one of the few open areas on the property. Finally, Tim helped me out since I was nearby, communicating via Motorola CP-110 radios that we typically bring for night photography.
“Yikes, that water’s cold!”
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld RGB Critter 2.0 during a long exposure night photo.
I also was testing an RGB Critter 2.0 flashlight for Photofocus. Although designed for flow arts, I was testing it for light painting because of its high-quality light (you can read the RGB Critter review here). I began side-lighting and backlighting a few of the rusty vintage vehicles. This went well, although more than a few times, I would brush against a couple of branches, causing cold water to splash down on me from the leaves above. The life of a night photographer is not always glamorous. Thankfully, both my $40 32 Degrees Sherpa Lined Urban Parka winter jacket I had just purchased and the RGB Critter shed the water beautifully.
“Yeowwww!”
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 during a long exposure night photo.
Tim startled me, emerging from the trees while I was photographing a “detail shot” of a hood ornament. “Sorry, I thought you had seen my light!”
I had stopped to photograph while heading back to the car. I was again a bit disoriented although heading in the correct general direction. Along the way, Tim discovered a GM bus that he had been looking for, a bus I had just photographed. This worked out quite well.
“The fog is fantastic!”
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 during a long exposure night photo. The fog in the forest looked fantastic. “Bad” weather can help create good photos!
Tim and I discovered that we had both been lighting the fog in the back of some of the vehicles added an extra element of eeriness. This was especially exciting to me. Most of my night photography has been in the Southwest, where there is less opportunity for foggy forest photography.
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 during a long exposure night photo.
“Can I move here for a year?”
We met up with Dean at the entrance. Dean asked, “How did it go?” I asked, “Can I move here for a year?” He laughed. This place was so fantastic, I could just imagine photographing continuously. There were so many opportunities for cool, strange, unusual, eerie and beautiful compositions. With a lot of locations, we often say, “We’ve only scratched the surface of this location!” But here, even that phrase didn’t describe the enormous amount of fantastic night photography opportunities. This was a very memorable night, a little wet and a lot of fun!
Old Car City, Georgia. Lit with a handheld RGB Critter 2.0 during a long exposure night photo.
Photographing in bad weather can be good!
Many night photographers ordinarily might not feel that a foggy rainy December night with a full moon is a great night for photography. But just like with day photography, there are many compelling reasons to photograph during “bad” weather. The fog in the trees, water droplets on the cars, and dripping forest canopy made for compelling possibilities.
What are some of the reasons you like to photograph in “bad” weather? Let us know in the comments!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
We all love photography items that we find useful and use constantly. Here are seven that have recently become part of my regular workflow.
Radiant Photo
Quick editing in Radiant Photo.
I began using Radiant Photo from Radiant Imaging Labs several months ago. It’s quickly become part of my workflow. I use it on just about every photo.
Radiant Photo states that it was created by photographers for photographers. It’s an easy-to-use editor that runs as a stand-alone as well as a plug-in.
You simply open an image. Radiant Photo quickly analyzes each image using AI. After that, it suggests edits that it feels is best for each photo. Rather than applying presets, it attempts to bring out color, detail, and light that best suits each individual photo. It works as stand-alone software or with Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.
The Zhiyun Fiveray M40 LED panel has no menu, two knobs and great-looking daylight LED light. Its bonus is in its almost childlike simplicity and effectiveness. It’s amazingly easy to operate without any previous knowledge of the product or how to use it. There are no menus, apps, multiple buttons, or anything else. It’s just two dials, one for brightness, and the other for color temperature, both completely variable.
That variability is another aspect that I love about this. While many LED daylight panels offer 2-3 discrete color temperatures, this offers variability from very warm temperatures of 2700K to very cool temperatures of 6200K. Easy. Fast. Simple. No menus. No scrolling. And the battery lasts a good long time. I use this for lighting products, Zoom meetings and video podcasts, and even as a super-great and quick flashlight at times.
I just began using this for light painting. However, so far, it’s gone with me on all my night photography excursions.
RGB Critter 2.0 flashlight is popular with LED flow artists during shows, art exhibitions, events and raves. It’s also very popular with night photographers for light drawing, which some describe as light painting. I use it for light painting of subjects (and finding my way around in the dark using a red light so I don’t blow my vision out.
Yes, I have a ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight already that is tailor-made for light painting of subjects. But the RGB Critter is smaller and can fit in my backpack a little easier. I am also able to use it as a backpack and loan it out knowing that it’s virtually indestructible.
There’s something about the way Luminar products handle color that gives them that extra “something.” That’s not very scientific, I know. But somehow, tools like Accent AI can balance color, hue, saturation, highlights and more. And you can always tweak anything with manual controls. Also, adding extra things like a little bit of extra Orton effect or glow or detail is simple. Some of the Portrait features are also fantastic. It’s hard not to love this even if you already have Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.
Luminar Neo has everything you need to make the colors pop. Tools like Accent AI can intelligently balance hue, saturation, highlights, contrast, and details with one slider. However, you can always fine-tune each one separately to your liking with manual controls.
DxO Nik Collection’s Detail Extractor can put back the details in your RAW images.
I’ve been using the Nik Collection when it was, well, owned by Nik, prior to Google, and definitely prior to DxO. DxO resuscitated this, and it has a suite of tools that I use all the time in my workflow.
I use Perspective Efex any time I need to address keystoning. The plug-in addresses geometric distortion in your images via automatic corrections or manually placed reference lines. The Auto version works extremely well, correcting numerous distortions simultaneously. Perspective Efex also corrects keystoning in architecture images. Also, it corrects lens distortions such as barrel, pincushion and fisheye distortion via the Volume Deformation panel. And it also has a surprisingly great tilt-shift effect!
And as this is a suite, I could go on and on. Silver Efex Pro has long been the gold standard among black and white enthusiasts. The good news? It’s still great! DxO added more controls. Consequently, if you are used to older versions such as the old Google version, you may need to poke around a bit. For instance, toning is in its own drop-down section.
Detail Extractor in particular manages to pull out, well, more detail. The sliders allow you to apply it with a subtle touch, which is my preference, but the filter’s default is strong.
Tonal Contrast, which I frequently use right alongside Detail Extractor at the same time, offers additional contrast without looking silly. Unless you want it to be extreme since, well, it does that too.
The Lowepro Trekker Lite SLX 120 is a low-key sling or waist-style bag. It accommodates a full-frame camera with an attached lens and one or two more lenses in a slim profile. As the Trekker Lite name implies, this bag is ideal for the photographer who is hiking or walking around a lot. It’s a great size for bringing a camera, a couple of lenses, some small accessories, a water bottle and either a tripod or a jacket strapped to the back. It’s the perfect size to stuff a few things in and go.
The bag does not scream, “I’ve got an expensive camera here!” Lowepro’s aesthetic and compartment spaces have an appealing sense of minimalism while still having enough storage to get the job done.
Right now, I am using it to hold my Motorola CP-110 communication radios, which I use on many night photography shoots with other night photographers or workshop participants. I’ve also used it to bring snacks and water, lenses, LED lights, and yes, cameras with lenses attached. In short, I use it all the time.
The four-panel display in Topaz Denoise, simplifies the comparisons and workflow.
Topaz Denoise AI is almost like magic. It uses deep learning, analyzing millions of images to distinguish between real image detail and noise. This allows you to retain detail while getting rid of noise. It works amazingly well. As a night photographer who has a lot of dark images and dark high-ISO images, denoising software that works this well is beautiful.
A single exposure high-ISO photo denoised by Topaz DeNoise AI.
Last thoughts
Night photo with light painting. Mr. Cone ice cream truck, forest, Georgia.
This is a quick article about photography items you might use all the time. And this differs from person to person. I just realized what I had begun using constantly recently and thought I’d share this with you in case it helps you a bit.
Another person might use the astounding Imagen all the time, particularly for batch-processing photos quickly and beautifully. If I did video for content creation, I’d use the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 gimbal constantly. And of course, it goes without saying that many of us use Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. just about every day. But these are photography items that I’ve recently come to rely on regularly!
What are some recent software or items that have become part of your regular workflow? Let us know in the comments!
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
When photography was in its infancy, this was often said in magazines and elsewhere. But is it true? And what role does processing take in this?
What is purity?
There is this almost purist sort of bent among some photographers, where the general belief is that film is somehow more truthful, and that processing a digital image is somehow more deceitful. Several years ago, in fact, some photographers described images they posted as “SOOC” (straight out of camera), almost as a badge of honor.
But I believe we often forget that many photographers sent their film to a lab, where a technician made decisions about exposure, color and artistry for them.
I believe we also forget that photographing “SOOC” simply means that the camera makes processing decisions for them and bakes them into a JPEG.
And I believe we forget that film photographers often manipulated a negative quite a bit.
“The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance.” – Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams would spend as long as eight hours in the darkroom on a single image. Dodging, burning … what he did was rather complicated, and often involved very specific notes and intent.
HDR
Then there’s HDR. High Dynamic Range. Most people associate this with a program like Photoshop. And many first attempts were garish, often overdone for a grungy effect. But when was the first HDR?
1857. That is the first known attempt that I know of, long before Photoshop, Windows 10 or USB cables. This was a photograph by pioneering French photographer Gustave Le Gray. He combined two negatives — one exposed for the sky, the other for the sea.
Processing
Is eight hours of processing negatives “bad?” Is HDR “bad?”
In night photography, processing surely has become more complicated. A lot of the processing is done in an effort to minimize noise and bring out stars. Is this sort of processing bad?
Purity and realism are moving targets. If spending eight hours in a darkroom, using HDR techniques or reducing noise makes things look or feel more like the actual experience, does this make processing “bad?”
What is realism in photography?
Is spending eight hours in a darkroom to dodge and burn an image any more unrealistic than using a fisheye lens to warp a scene unnaturally?
Is HDR any more unrealistic than “freezing” a waterfall at 1/1000 of a second so we can see the individual droplets of water, something that does not look or feel like the actual experience?
Is reducing noise in a dark photograph any more unrealistic than photographing a street scene for a split second in a grainy black and white image?
Genres like photojournalism or sports photography aside, should the goal of photography even be to make an image look or feel like the actual experience?
What do you think? I’ll leave you with this quote to give you some food for thought.
“A photograph is not necessarily a lie, but it isn’t the truth either. It’s more like a fleeting, subjective impression.” ― John Berger
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
Adobe made the new Denoise function incredibly easy to use. I’ll walk you through the process.
Step 1. Select Denoise in the Details Panel to the right. You may also select Photo > Enhance from the menu.
Step 2. “Denoise” is probably already selected if you clicked on Denoise through the Details Panel. If not, check the box.
Step 3. Use the slider to adjust the intensity of Denoise. If you press and hold on the preview window, you can see your original image prior to denoising.
Step 4. Click enhance to process the image to a new DNG file. The file will have “-Enhance-NR” appended to it. And Lightroom will of course place it next to the original source image.
Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 100% view with Denoise at 30.
Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 300% zoom view with Denoise at 30.
Comparisons when Denoise is set at 50 out of 100
Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 100% view with Denoise at 50.
Left: original file. Right: Denoised file. 300% zoom view with Denoise at 50.
Analysis of the applied noise reduction
Any noise reduction system or just about any other setting can look bad when you apply too much enhancement. The new AI-powered Denoise in Lightroom Classic is no exception.
Of course, everyone has personal tastes. I found that for this high-ISO Milky Way photo, I preferred a setting around 30, shown in the first two examples. I found that the noise was satisfactorily eliminated while retaining detail. The darker areas around the mountain were kept intact but didn’t look “fake” and “plastic-like”.
When Denoise was set to 50, the shadowy areas of the mountain began looking very “plastic” and over-processed to me.
Denoise also addressed color noise, the little spots of noise that are easily visible in the sky, while leaving the stars alone.
Simple but effective
I also must confess that I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked. When I saw that Denoise was controlled by just one slider, I was a bit dubious. But I must say that it retains detail and applies noise reduction, well, intelligently.
Above: This and the header photo were processed using only Lightroom Classic, including their new AI-powered Denoise feature. This is from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Nikon D750 and Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. I used a single exposure as an example of a high-ISO photo so you could see how the new Denoise feature works.
Other notes from Adobe
Adobe recommends that you denoise your image before applying AI masks and Content Aware. Applying noise reduction prior to other tools is generally good practice anyway.
Once the image has been enhanced with Denoise or Super Resolution, you may not process it again. However, enhanced Raw Details DNGs can be processed with Denoise.
Adobe also states that Denoise is a GPU-intensive feature. In other words, it’s perfectly normal for the process to take a while. And it’s also better if you use a faster GPU for Denoise and its other Enhance features.
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
If anyone has been photographing for a while, they discover one thing about their pop-up flash: it looks horrible. By itself, it produces ugly, flat and unflattering light.
The light is illuminating the Buddha statue at a 0-degree angle from our camera. In other words, directly behind the camera. Not very flattering, is it?
An easy way to diminish the light: Stand farther back!
Getting farther away from this enormous 350-foot long rattledragon allowed me to light paint this with flattering light.
Just like anything else, light travels. And just like you calling after someone far away or throwing a baseball, over time and distance, it also diminishes.
So what does that have to do with lighting in photography? The Inverse Square Law in essence states that if you move your light farther away from the subject, the light will diminish in brightness.
That intuitively makes sense, right? After all, if you hold a flashlight close to a subject, the subject will look brighter than if you lit it up while standing far away.
It so happens that the Inverse Square Law simply tells us how much the light diminishes. Doubling our distance reduces the light falling on the subject by 25%. There. That was easy, wasn’t it?
Photographers do this all the time for flash photography and strobes. And night photographers who light paint subjects do this as well. Often, intuitively.
Red, red, red
I used a red light to illuminate a variety of things here — burned wood, unburned wood, concrete and more. But because I knew about the principles in this article, I was able to light paint the scene in a single exposure.
Photographers often notice that digital cameras seem particularly sensitive to red light. It’s easier to blow out the highlights and lose detail. Ask any concert photographer about bright red stage lights.
Night photographers who light paint find this out sooner or later if they use red light. Whoops! It’s suddenly far easier to clip your highlights!
A light painter will compensate for this. How? You might be able to guess from the Inverse Square Law. That’s right. Just move farther away from your subject!
If moving farther away is not an option, there’s other things you can do as well. Lower the saturation. Turn the brightness down. Illuminate the subject for a shorter amount of time.
Different colors sometimes will blow out highlights slightly differently although red seems to be the largest culprit. A seasoned night photographer learns this by doing after a while. Or possibly by reading my Photofocus articles!
Consistency
I told my friends that I’d be done in less than 10 minutes, but that I was going to take four photos, one right after another, with four different colors. Four different attempts at light painting, one right after another. Consistency is key.
A night photographer who is good at light painting learns these lessons and more.
Sometimes, the person might learn it intuitively without knowing about things such as “Inverse Square Law”.
And in doing so, the photographer stops making the same errors over and over again. In doing so, illuminating the subject becomes far more common.
After a while, it’s not unusual for a night photographer to nail the light painting in the first try!
While light painting is an inexact art — mostly because we as humans are “inexact” — we can produce rather consistent results with a bit of practice. We want to learn enough so we are producing great results more often due to our skill and knowledge rather than serendipity.
Addicting
Light painting at the Schoolbus Graveyard, Georgia. You can photograph here during our night photography workshop!
Does this sound difficult or confusing? It might not be. I think a lot of this you know intuitively already. Just keep it in mind when you are out at night illuminating subjects. And of course, keep practicing. While it’s helpful to read things like this article, it’s really helpful to roll up your proverbial sleeves and learn by doing. Have fun!
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
The Inverse Square Law is simple. No, really. And it can help your lighting. I’ll describe it in simple terms. No charts, no math. Sounds good? Let’s do it!
I stood farther back from this abandoned naval base bunker to illuminate much of it equally. Still, you can see a bit of the light falling off on the left side since I was at an angle.
Stand farther back!
Just like anything else, light travels. And just like you calling after someone far away or throwing a baseball, over time and distance, it also diminishes.
So what does that have to do with lighting in photography? I’m glad you asked. The Inverse Square Law in essence states that if you move your light farther away from the subject, the light will diminish in brightness. Yeah. Move farther away, and your illumination grows dimmer.
That intuitively makes sense, right? After all, if you hold a flashlight close to a subject, the subject will look brighter than if you lit it up while standing far away. So it is with any other light as well.
The Inverse Square Law is all about distance. Distance of your light to the subject and surrounding area.
Okay, maybe one tiny little bit of math….
It so happens that the Inverse Square Law simply tells us how much the light diminishes. Doubling our distance reduces the light falling on the subject by 25%. There. That was easy, wasn’t it?
Just remember that the Inverse Square Law is all about distance.
Practical application in real life
Photographers do this all the time for flash photography and strobes. And night photographers who light paint subjects do this as well. Often, intuitively.
It’s a large subject, so I pulled farther away to illuminate it more evenly.
Large subjects
Are you taking a photo of a large sculpture? Inverse Square Law to the rescue!
If you are photographing and the center of the sculpture is bright but the edges are not getting enough light, back up.
If the sculpture is twelve feet across, place the flash at least twelve feet from the center. You’ll also be about twelve feet from the edges.
I stepped back to make sure my lights covered everyone here equally. I have three lights all backed off of the group to cover everyone equally, using the Inverse Square Law.
Group portraits
Are you taking a photo of a group of people? Inverse Square Law to the rescue!
Let’s say that you are taking a photo of a group of people. You are frustrated because the people in the middle are much brighter than the people on the edges.
Step back. How far, you ask? Step back until the people you want to illuminate at the edges are about the same distance as the people in the center. It doesn’t need to be exact.
Here’s a fun example! Here, the light is set to illuminate the couple getting married. However, they are being photobombed by someone who is much closer. And that person is much brighter. The light falls off noticeably behind her.
Dramatic falloff of light
Up to now, we’ve been talking about illuminating subjects evenly. But let’s do something different. Let’s light up the subject but not the background. Inverse Square Law to the rescue!
I got close to the grille of the Ford truck when light painting. Notice how much the light falls off after that.
Get close to the subject. If you are light painting, reduce the brightness of your light. If you are using a flash, do the same. The closer you are, the more the light falls off. We’re doing the opposite of the large subject or the large group of people. Here, the light falls off very quickly because we’ve moved in close.
Light spill
When we are using a flash or light painting, when we step farther away, there’s more light spill as well. That’s why in the previous example, we can create a dramatic falloff of light. But conversely, if we step farther away, our light can fill up more of the background as well as the subject.
It really is all about distance
And remember, this all has to do with the distance in which we choose to use our light. Inverse Square Law is all about distance.
Learning more about Inverse Square Law and light painting
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
What lights are great for night photographers? What’s useful? What’s great for light painting? How about for illuminating?
LED Panels
The best LED panels I know of are made by Luxli Lights. These amazing lights are extremely color-accurate and absurdly bright, if that’s what you really want. No night photographer I know actually blasts light super bright because it blows everything out, especially from a stationary light. But for some reason, night photographers still get really worked up about how many lumens lights have.
Regardless, I have the original Luxli Viola. Luxli Lights has since released the next generation, called Luxli Viola². Either one features a dimmable output that can be adjusted from either 3000 to 10,000K or 0 to 360° RGB. The unit incorporates two endlessly rotating knobs. One knob controls the flicker-free dimming adjustment from 100 to 0% brightness, while the other knob controls the color output of the unit. As the Viola is flicker-free, you may also use the LED panel for video as well as photography without any strobing, banding or flickering effect.
Luxli also makes several other sorts of LED panels, each with 360° RGB and adjustable Kelvin temperatures. In the hands of a light painting Jedi, it’ll produce stunning results mounted on a stand, tripod, or handhold it to light paint. Available here.
ProtoMachines LED2
The ProtoMachines are arguably the Rolls Royce of handheld light painting devices. No other handheld device produces such high-quality light, has so many presets, offers 0-100% control over saturation, or has control over brightness over 8 f-stop range in 0.1 stop increments. Oh, and it has a timer as well. Available here when in stock.
RGB Critter 2.0
The RGB Critter 2.0 by Ants on a Melon is primarily designed for flow artists. However, the light produces rich RGB colors, has a solid comfortable build, and offers numerous attachments.
The three-button user interface is a bit confusing and requires some practice and muscle memory. Thankfully, most of the time that you are light painting subjects, you will not need to access the more complicated three-button controls while the camera shutter is on. For instance, you can turn the backlit buttons off, choose between PWM or Analog output, and for the most part, adjust the desired brightness before activating the shutter button of your camera. You may keep these settings for the rest of the time you are photographing.
Flow art, light drawing, and light painting of subjects are different branches of the same glow tree. And the RGB Critter is flexible enough to do all three very well. Despite not being designed for light painting subjects, the RGB Critter 2.0 shines brightly above the competition. At $125, more than fair-priced for what is easily one of the most comfortable, highest-quality RGB flashlights currently on the market. Available here.
Zhiyun-Tech FR100C RGB LED Tube Light
The Zhiyun LED Tube Light shines in its versatility and brightness. Just about everyone can find great uses with this light. Photographers will find this useful and easy to use for portrait, product, fashion, model, macro, light painting and product photography. Aside from night photographers, videographers will also find it useful for a variety of video instances. Either will be able to illuminate their subjects using stands in a variety of settings or handheld.
It is not the best as a light wand, but to be fair, it’s not designed or marketed to be one. It has no remote control. For most lighting applications, this won’t matter, but if you’ve mounted this farther away or high up in the rafters, this could be an issue for you.
I wish that the controls were less finicky. Also, I would love to see this power up to the last light setting it was on rather than defaulting to CCT every time. However, this is a high-quality light that excels at illuminating large surfaces when light painting and is excellent for many other purposes as well. Available here.
Wurkkos FC11 pocket LED flashlight
Light painting with just warm white light is fantastic. You don’t always need color. And if it’s a high-quality light for less than $30, even better. The Wurkkos FC11 pocket LED flashlight is a joy to use for light painting subjects with a handheld light. You can immediately see an amazing amount of detail in anything that it illuminates. The “throw” of the light is wide, but not too wide for light painting. Also, it is even throughout, not having any real hot spots in the center to mar any light painting. It is also nice and small. Having the ability to ramp the brightness is also extremely useful, as this goes from very dim to super bright. The flashlight remembers the last setting, so I can retain consistency. Oh, and besides all this, you can find your way in the dark quite well if you need something that has the capability of becoming absurdly bright. Available here.
Coast HX4 80 Lumen Dual Color (White & Red) Magnetic LED Clip Light with Beam Rotation, black
Coast HX4 LED clip light, producing red and white light in a convenient package.
Sometimes, head lamps don’t work so well for night photographers. For instance, when wearing a beanie, they tend to push the beanie up and slip off. Enter the Coast light, with its strong clip, holding it firm to the brim of a baseball cap, the straps of your backpack, your pocket or your jacket. The light is fully adjustable for hands-free operation. And yes, it produces red light so you can preserve your night vision a bit better. Available here.
VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
BOOKS AND PRINTS: Head on over to the Ken Lee Photography website to purchase books or look at night photography and long exposure prints and more. My books are available there and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Booktopia, Books A Million, IBS, and Aladin. If you enjoy the book, please leave a nice review, thanks!
NIGHTAXIANS VIDEO YOUTUBE PODCAST:
Night photographers Tim Little, Mike Cooper and I all use Pentax gear. We discuss this, gear, adventures, light painting, lenses, night photography, creativity, and more in this ongoing YouTube podcast. Subscribe and watch to the Nightaxians today!
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