Light painting with green laser?

CaveDweller

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Has anyone tried light painting with a green laser pen? I'm looking to buy a new one after having mine taken from me by the police :( Didn't have a chance to try it with the camera. It was an expensive one that you could see the beam in daylight and light matches with. I'd be a bit reluctant to point it towards the camera though.
 
CaveDweller said:
It was an expensive one that you could see the beam in daylight and light matches with. I'd be a bit reluctant to point it towards the camera though.
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So a highly powered one that was illegal in this country?

All the light painting I've done on computer products, cars etc have been with low powered torches with focusable beams. Or are you talking things like writing words etc.
I'd be very careful pointing one at my camera.
 
Byker28i said:
So a highly powered one that was illegal in this country?

All the light painting I've done on computer products, cars etc have been with low powered torches with focusable beams. Or are you talking things like writing words etc.
I'd be very careful pointing one at my camera.
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I don't know if it was illegal or not. A lot of people were complaining about it flashing up on the mountains when I was messing about and they thought someone was in trouble. My fault really lol

I wasn't after making words or lighting up object, but thought the actual beam of the laser would look interesting because you can see it perfectly clear with the naked eye. It was just a thought though and was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
 
I'd check the thread above and check the power output. I think you'd have to be very careful about reflections. It's a lot easier to use a longer exposure and a reasonable light source for more control but I can see the idea of a narrow beam. Perhaps sign writing onto a wall/non reflective surface with a long exposure?


The police are a little hot on laser pens as they are often used to dazzle the police helicopters.
 
Yeh, it's a bit of a touchy thing to do I think now. I'll look into that thread more.
 
Low powered or more to the point Legal lasers you'll need to be really unlucky for it to damage the camera, I've had some direct hits in the past do no damage...but I'm talking general disco lasers, personally I find lasers can be good but they're not the be all when it comes to light painting, they're a tool it's worth having available though..

This was a fun disco laser shot, in a road tunnel with a mix blasting through the car speakers to activate the sound activation on the laser :P was a lot of fun light painting to dance music :woot:


63/365 (794) by mwhcvt, on Flickr
 
MWHCVT said:
Low powered or more to the point Legal lasers you'll need to be really unlucky for it to damage the camera, I've had some direct hits in the past do no damage...but I'm talking general disco lasers, personally I find lasers can be good but they're not the be all when it comes to light painting, they're a tool it's worth having available though..

This was a fun disco laser shot, in a road tunnel with a mix blasting through the car speakers to activate the sound activation on the laser :p was a lot of fun light painting to dance music :woot:


63/365 (794) by mwhcvt, on Flickr
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I'm thinking I might come off the acid now lol,
 
If it was taken by police it must be illegal, would not recommend pointing at camera
 
CaveDweller said:
I'm thinking I might come off the acid now lol,
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:P considering I've never indulged in a hallucinogen could you image what I could create if I did :naughty:
 
There are moves to have lasers recognised as alternatives to pyrotechnic distress flares. While this hasn't happened yet, recreational outdoor use will likely be banned if they are.
 
Tori_T said:
There are moves to have lasers recognised as alternatives to pyrotechnic distress flares. While this hasn't happened yet, recreational outdoor use will likely be banned if they are.
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Can see why. The laser I had lit up the number plate on my friends car from 10miles away and with the beam being visible as well you could easily see where I was.
 
resize 50.jpg D

Did this using a laser pen. same helmet but rearranged to look like three. Simplicity in itself; keep the shutter open but use the lens cap to cover the lens whilst you re position the helmet. Done indoors with a non reflective back ground
 
Lots of wedding photographers have a clause in their contracts about the wedding disco lasers due to the risk to the camera.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Lots of wedding photographers have a clause in their contracts about the wedding disco lasers due to the risk to the camera.
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I'd be very interested both in the wording and effectiveness of such a clause, speaking as someone who is part of a disco/DJ company I can say quite honestly I don't ever remember a couple booking us and requesting no lasers because of wedding photographer...

So what do you do if there is a jock doing the wedding and s/he uses a laser as part of their light show?
 
MWHCVT said:
I'd be very interested both in the wording and effectiveness of such a clause, speaking as someone who is part of a disco/DJ company I can say quite honestly I don't ever remember a couple booking us and requesting no lasers because of wedding photographer...

So what do you do if there is a jock doing the wedding and s/he uses a laser as part of their light show?
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I guess the obvious answer is to ask them to turn it off.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I guess the obvious answer is to ask them to turn it off.
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Indeed, and most time we would not have an issue with this, although it presents an interesting potential conflict of interest we do have the option for clients to pay for additional features such as programmed laser show etc, this doesn't happen often for weddings, but it could be a client has paid us to do something but the photographer has it in their contract to not have that thing, ultimately it makes no odds to us to if we have it on or not, but if a client had paid us to have it on, only they can tell us to turn it off otherwise we run the rush of breaching our contract

Hence my interest in how a wedding photographer words it in their contract
 
The usual clause is something to the effect that no photos will be taken of the first dance if the DJ/hotel use a laser show as part of it due to the risk of damage to cameras.
 
swanseamale47 said:
The usual clause is something to the effect that no photos will be taken of the first dance if the DJ/hotel use a laser show as part of it due to the risk of damage to cameras.
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Seems fair enough :thumbs:
 
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