I can't deny I might be a circuit board addict. I have a small collection of scrap boards acquired from various places. To my non-lightpainter friends this sounds a little wierd when I explain that I choose to spend my evenings stood in my kitchen in complete darkness waving lights at a circuit board! My lightpainting friends however think that this is perfectly normal!
Amongst some lightpainting colleagues, this technique is sometimes known as "SOOK" as in straight out of the kitchen" There is a challenge amongst us to create all of the elements in one photographic exposure. I thrive on the idea but sometimes the images can take quite a bit of setting up.
This is a collection of set up shots for a SOOK lightpainting image. These are the basis for adding other elements but in these examples, I believe they might stand up by themselves as works of art. (I am always hesitant to use "work of art" to describe anything I do but I remind myself that's what this is all about!)
I've shot boards in various ways and here I've attempted to show a few ways to skin the cat!
Panning a board
For this shot I lit the board from the front with a red gelled flashgun to freeze the board. The board was lit from the rear with a continuous light source and just before the exposure ended I panned the camera to the left of frame creating this kinetic stripe. I ended up abandoning this idea for another lightpainting shot because somehow the curve from the lens was inconsistent and I couldn't accurately recreate the result.
Zoom Zoom
Here the board is lit by a little Coast TX10 flashlight from behind while I zoom out. Quick and simple to do once you get the timing right with replacing the lens cap to prevent more light than you want entering the sensor.
Zoom Zoom Zoom
Another zoom pull shot but this time with a contunuous light from the front. I found that I preferred to zoom out rather than zoom in. This is the zoom in version.
Tilting the Board
If you place the circuit board out of parallel with the lens, some of the board remains in focus and some out of focus. Once I realised I could do this I literally spent hours stood in the dark experimenting with angles of the board and positions of the lights. I realise this may make me sound like a wierdo but I was loving it!
Bokehlicious
Once I realised what I could get turning the board out of parallel I couldn't get enough. This was a practice shot for an object to land in the middle of the chip but I found that there were too many distractions in the middle of the main CPU. In the shot after this I used a piece of black duct tape carefully cut square so you couldn't see the centre. The image here though stands up for itself!
Rotating the Board
I managed to acquire a smaller and more intricate board and decided to rotate the camera around the lens axis where the board was lit with a flashguns from the front and rear. I used this as the basis for an "android" shot of my hand.
These are a few of the final results I got with the above images as the basis. I've posted these to the Hive before so here they are in a collage so as not to offend the Gods of Hive.....
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/
Lightpainting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera, or by moving the camera itself during exposure. Nothing is added or removed in post processing.
If you would like to see more lightpainting please give the Lightpainters United Community a follow and you will be introduced into the illuminating world of light painting!
If you want to see more examples of lightpainting, feel free to check out these guys:
Mafu Fuma | Oddballgraphics | FadetoBlack | DAWN | Mart Barras | Stefan Stepke | Nikolay Trebukhin | Lee Todd | Stabeu Light | Maxime Pateau | Stephen Sampson | lightandlense | Neil Rushby | L.A.C.E.
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