Lack of Clarity in Light Painting

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sparkzweb

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Hey Guys!

I attempted to light paint using one of those fiber optic toys, as in having loads of strands of light rubbing against something.

I got the basic shape going but there is no clarity or sharpness!

This is what I am doing:

Put it on auto, press the shutter to halfway and wait for beep
Put it on manual
Aperture at the highest (f22 I believe)
shutter speed at 25 seconds
iso 100
35mm 1.8g nikkor lens

Then I do the stuff.
But it lacks real clarity.
I have attached 6 photos, please advise.


DSC_0043.jpg by sparkzweb, on Flickr


DSC_0044.jpg by sparkzweb, on Flickr


DSC_0045.jpg by sparkzweb, on Flickr


DSC_0046.jpg by sparkzweb, on Flickr


DSC_0051.jpg by sparkzweb, on Flickr

This is what I was trying to do:


Untitled by sparkzweb, on Flickr
 
Where / what were you focused on?

If you are out with someone get them to hold a torch where you plan on doing the light painting (you can auto focus but flick to manual focus once done)

If alone I put the torch on the floor and focus and recompose using the same method above.

If it's not a focus issue it could be condensation on your lens.
 
You turn the torch off once you've locked the focus. Then you're free to whatever you want.
 
Matt (MWHCVT) who is a member here on TP is very good at this sort of stuff, I have sent him a PM directing him to this thread.

Hopefully Matt will be able to offer assistance
 
Last edited:
I think you need to go back and have another go and change a few settings along the way.

I think your main issues are not properly focused, underexposed and you have light everywhere.

I think f22 is extreme I would open it up till I found a good exposure, I would also shoot on bulb and experiment with the amount time needed too, lastly I would go for one sweep of light, get that right then slowly build up the amount of times you run the light across your image.

Everytime the light goes in front of your camera it's going to record that light and I think in most of your Images there are to many streaks of light.
 
I had a 2 minute play in the kitchen tonight and this is what I got

IMG_4428_zps1b595718.jpg
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I think your settings are quite a bit off. A 25 second exposure for light so close to the camera seems to be way too much.

The banana was shot at

6 seconds
18mm
f3.5
ISO 125

Just tone your settings down until you get the results you want.
 
I'd like to thank Keith for the heads up on this thread...

Right so looking at the photo's you added that were to show what you were trying to achieve, I would say looking at the apple to start with..that would have been done with a single pass of the fiber optic then I would say that the photography has then used a little but of torch light to bring the apple out from the scene a little, on the blue crystal ball again I'd say that was still only a single pass as otherwise trails would start to merge into each other...

I would guess that both have been shot at around f8-13...with an ISO200-640 would be my guess...

I would say your main mistake is that you've shot at f/22 it is a common misconception that if you should at a really small aperture you'll have a massive DoF so it's bound to be nice and sharp...while you will have a massive DoF you are also going to distort the light that is hitting the sensor and this will cause your whole image to suffer from softness and aberrations that would not be visible at a larger aperture

I'm guessing that you made multiple passes over the subject with the fiber optic also this is part of the reason that it's not got the clarity that you want..you need to make one smooth pass over the subject to get crisp trails from the light source..then taking a small torch (I'd try and avoid LED for this as they're just too cold a light source normally) and just cast a little light over the subject to bring it out of the darkness a little

Matt
 
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