You explain this process in an easy to digest way, and your work is visually stunning. I can't wait to experiment with these techniques in my photo and video experiments.
After reading the other comments I would only be repeating what's already been said, very well done. Your insights will raise the quality of my photos ten fold. Many thanks 😊
Another excellent instructional video. I'm saving all your videos in a separate folder to watch repeatedly. I love that the videos teach you everything from how to find suitable foreground objects to light paint, how to capture the night sky, and how to edit them and blend to make the most of them. It's all delivered in a clear, concise and inspirational way that really makes me want to have a go myself. Thank you so much for this. These are easily the best videos on night photography.
I stumbled across your channel this morning and I have been binge watching and trying out all of these different methods lol. Finding your videos has been such a great experience. The way you lay this all out is making it so much clearer for me. Thanks again!
I very much appreciate the time and effort you take to put these extremely informative instructional videos together. I can't wait to go out and put these techniques into practice. Thank you.
Nightscape Images thank you Richard, I follow you since... 🤔 a year ago? I don’t remember exactly but, for the very first time I saw your videos, I was amazed for your work, and every Friday (here in Peru) I wait to see another video, your videos help me a lot to take some pictures of the Milky Way, composition, technique, light painting etc. I’m very thankful for all your passion and knowledge. By the way my mane is José Luis Chacón and i live in Cusco Peru 🇵🇪 hope one day you’ll come to my country and I’ll be very glad to be your host. Take care and thanks again.
This was a great explanation of light painting, I really appreciate the photoshop layer/mask explanation and seeing layer by layer how much detail is added by the light. Awesome video, your work is beautiful
Absolutely love your work ., QUESTION - when u photographed the car in this image , could u please specify where on the car u placed the focus point . Thank you ! You are an incredible inspiration ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks so much for watching Bernie. I shot this car a long time ago, but often these days unless the car is very close I'll keep the focus at infinity. By changing the aperture for the foreground exposure the focal plane widens and brings the subject into focus. If the subject is very close then I'll re-focus onto the front of the car. Hope that helps.
I'm so hooked. I love shooting at night, long exposures and macro photography. Your videos have inspired me to put all three together and hopefully with some practice put great pieces of art on my wall. Thanks.
Hi Richard, I took the time yesterday to watch all your videos on TH-cam. It's a beautiful job, thank you for your sharing and your explanations very clear. I know the work that it represents, bravo! Olivier from Belgium
I took a beautiful picture of Neowise tonight. I bough the introvelometer like you suggested and used it to help capture some nice pictures. Thanks for your help Richard
Awesome tutorial, love the way you explain everything in-depth and eloquently. Super enjoyable & very informative. Also amazing images as always. Thanks heaps for sharing a little bit of your workflow for post-processing. 😊🙌👍👏👏👏
These videos are such a pleasure to watch. Everything is so well explained and the final images are beautiful. Thank you for making these. As an aspiring photographer, these are really helpful. I'm going to try some light painting shots this week.
Really appreciated Mike. I absolutely love my nightscape photography and my desire is to share the passion and determination that's required to get great shots.
Wow ,what a splendid tutorial, it was great to see how the different layers come together to produce your final image. You`re enjoyable to listen to and thanks for sharing your knowledge :). Now I just have to master my LUMIX FZ300 :).
Tried to do the light painting this weekend, so hard! I failed in getting decent images and my stacking didn't work out at all! do so enjoy your videos on TH-cam, thank you.
Great tutorial, I just came from browsing low light tube photography. At first I thought about skipping this one, as I have done painting with light before. Then you hooked me with the pinsharp stars at the back while having to spend time painting-in the subject. The few times I've done painting with light, I always tried to do it in one go. Taking different shots for different angles is actually a brilliant and logic way to do it, as you cut down on noise and you can light the same area of your subject multiple times, giving you more options to combine, especially if you have not refined your painting technique. If you burn out a detail while doing it in one go, it could potentially be the cause of great frustration. Sometimes..., (no correction), ...it's always worthwhile to revisit something you've done in the past, because somewhere out there someone else is doing the same thing with a much better approach! Thank you!
@@arunstudiom.v.kuppammaha If you're asking what settings to use with a Nikon D7000 camera, they will be very similar to those I used here. I all depends on the lens you use also.
Excellent video, thanks a lot for sharing! 😃👍 This technic triggers my imagination to probably solve a problem with an idea for a picture that is sticking in my brain for years now. Again, thank you so much! Subscribed of course! Cheers, Martin
thank you so much for sharing your process. you give very clear explanations. I am making a start into lightpainting and loving it. I have suscribed to your channel. love your photos.
Nightscape Images What is the technique you used to remove the sky from all but the first image called? Mask brush? I have some Photoshop courses but not sure what to look for.
Yes , thanks for this. Up till now I would just bang of some flashes in the foreground, with a hope and wish. Sometimes OK sometimes not. I like the idea of the torch and experience with fstop and time to get things right. Also changing the colour temperature from a cold blue sky to warmer in front. Thanks very much
This is your second video i have watched, i Subscribe on the first video before i finished watching it. I like the way you describe how to do it, and like how you put the numbers up on the screen. I am really enjoying watching your videos and going wow at the final image. Thank you for amazing videos. Look forward to watching more.
Very inspiring. Looking to take my night photograpy to this level. Just subscribed to your channel. Lots to learn. Thanks for taking the time to show us how. Semper Fly.
I really appreciate the video. I have been planning to get out and take some nightscape photos, but was not sure how photographers were capturing the fore ground detail. I can see that light painting could have a number of applications. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for this and many other of your videos. I discovered your channel recently, being interested in the art of light painting. I have a question, one that may be answered elsewhere but I have not seen it yet. How do you coordinate the start of the exposure period with being in the right location to do the light painting?
Thanks so much for watching Chris. I use a wireless remote shutter release so that I'm already in position when the shutter is triggered. There are many you could use but I love the Yongnuo rf603ii. www.amazon.com.au/Yongnuo-Professional-Flash-Trigger-RF-603/dp/B013E1YF3Y/ref=sr_1_2?adgrpid=122112287995&gclid=CjwKCAiAtouOBhA6EiwA2nLKH3qWAQrFH6vQaEh9LjNSRpwXippszX67EvAHjsDHemPFmP52DsezchoCNygQAvD_BwE&hvadid=516459594710&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9071496&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13670557097762560292&hvtargid=kwd-296736535111&hydadcr=14732_16212&keywords=yongnuo+rf+603+ii&qid=1640214199&sr=8-2
@@nightscapeimages.richard thanks for the quick response Richard. That was almost too obvious, in hind sight. I have an A7R, so I’ll find an equivalent.
Excellent video. I think most people when they hear about light painting think of people doodling with light sources using a long exposure not making such great images like the ones you made.
Back in the stone age I used to do this kind of work on film using a Mamiya Super 23. Things were lit with my Norman 200 stobe and I lit the fore ground buy changing the focus. You system sounds complicated but beliueve me its a breeze compared to what I had to do.
This video should have much more likes. I really enjoyed your video. It was a real pleasure to follow you on your way of how to create this beautiful image. Your explanations were superb! Thats why I immediately subscribed to your channel. Thanks a lot!
Thanks going to scotland in May for a few weeks .ive tried long time exposure usually 20 sec and lighting the fore ground with a torch with not much luck.But if the weather's right I'll have another go i dont won't to edit it on a pc but would like to do it "with in the camera" thanks for the inspiration
Thank you so much Richard. You made a great video here. Inspires me to get out there and get some beautiful night scapes myself. Your work is inspirational and beautiful. Fine art indeed. Blessings to you my Friend, I have subscribed! O:)
That's is very very nice I've got something very similar in mind. The only problem is there are a lot of old cars. In a line beside a highway. And the background is not very nice. The cars are on small hill. I was thinking of maybe a small light inside the cars. Maybe a foggy night to cover the background. Are should I just pick 1 car? And focus on 1 like this car is coming back alive. I've got a cannon t6i. And to be honest It's been laying around for a year. So I've got to brush up. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Photograph lets me look at the world around me in a different light. Can't wait to try to get shooting done. I got my books but seeing it being done helps more. Thanks again.
Great video! Please tell me what luminous flux of the flashlight is necessary for sufficient illumination of objects. For example, cars, trees, small houses?
Thanks a lot for watching Anton. I only use about a 300 lumen torch and many times it isn't at it's brightest setting. The distance to subject and length of time shining the beam as well as the zoom of the beam all come into consideration as well.
No Thankyou your tutorial was great easy to understand and great images to boot. im looking forward to getting my camranger so i can control the camera from a distance and changing focus and anything i want without touching the camera, it should be perfect for this sort of light painting as the range of the wifi connection is pretty good i think its 150 ft so should be very helpful. i will be looking for more tips from you cheers....
Hi Richard, thanks for your inspirational video, and chance to see your stunning images. May I ask if you keep your focal point in the same spot on the car for all the variously lit foreground images, or do you move it for each shot to the area you are lighting? Thanks again!
Thanks Julia, really appreciate your encouragement. Regarding focal point. Once I stop down the aperture I leave the focal point at the same place generally, especially when using wide angle lenses as the focus plane is fairly wide at f5 for example. However if the subject is a longer item going away from the camera I may change it from the closest point to somewhere near the most distant point. Another option in that case is to close the aperture down even further to perhaps f8 and simply add more light. Hopefully that helps.
This is a great video. One thing that isn't mentioned, though (and is in fact almost never mentioned in these sorts of videos) is the focus breathing which occurs when you change your focal distance on the lens. You're going to wind up with a different image after refocusing from the sky to the car, and given that this is a pretty wide lens (20mm) the distortion along with the change in focal length makes this exceptionally difficult to just use Align-Layers. I'm always curious to hear how people go about mitigating this challenge.
Thanks for watching Philippe. You are absolutely correct regarding the focus breathing. In most images I have not found it to be too much of a problem as the technique of actually lighting the subject tends to mask this slight black shadow from the observer. It is certainly there but in the big picture doesn't detract very much from the overall image. One way to help mitigate this is to ensure that there are actually dark and light areas in the image. Where there are shadows present the dark edge becomes invisible anyway. This is part of the overall technique and as I often mention when lighting ... never light from the same angle as the camera ... side light creates more dark and moody shadows which in turn helps hide the out of focus shadow you are referring to.
Nightscape Images I understand, and really, some of what I was referring to (methods for how you blend layers, masks, alignment) becomes its own tutorial altogether, so I certainly don't fault you or intent and criticism on your workflow. There is always something more to cover, but this is another critical aspect. Anyway, I enjoyed your video and you have a beautiful gallery of work.
Richard... I'm enjoying learning about your technique. I'm puzzled though why the attention to in-camera white balance when you're shooting Raw files and can always change the white balance afterward in edit. Please explain. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching really appreciate it. I think it's because I don't like to encourage anyone to default to auto settings. You are correct that you can easily adjust the white balance in post production. There are many situations where you want to ensure multiple images have the same look .. eg: Star Trails, Time lapse etc. I prefer to set my white balance and then if need be I can still change it later in post anyway .. If I leave it on auto then my options are more limited and as mentioned I think it's a bad habit for nightscapes. For daylight photography I have no issues with auto white balance.
@@nightscapeimages.richard I will be teaching a light painting workshop to the Boise (Idaho) Camera Club in a couple of weeks. I will base much of the instruction on things I've learned watching your TH-cam videos. We will be using one of the member's cool Harley motorcycle as a subject. Have you done any motorcycles in your work and if so, perhaps you could provide me a link to a shot for inspiration? Thanks... Love your stuff.
@@Truelight54 Thanks again my friend. I haven't done a lot of motorcycles .. certainly not for a long time. There is one image on this page: www.nightscapeimages.com.au/automotive.html
Hi , wonderful tutorial.I am just starting out and have a question that may be very obvious to a lot of people but when you are in the dark, would you shine a brighter light onto the subject and focus first and then start painting? And secondly, do you refocus each shot on the area that you are working on? Many thanks and what a wonderful hobby
Thanks heaps for watching little engine. They are great questions. Yes I do use a brighter light onto the subject to ensure good focus, secondly .. no I don't generally need to re-focus for every foreground shot as the focus won't change enough to matter at the settings I've punched into the camera.
layering is fantastic but as you mentioned is a laborious process in photoshop - what if i do hdr with lightroom, how will be the outcome do you think? excellent work by the way.
Thanks so much for watching. Lightroom doesn't have any ability to remove areas of an image that contains stray light or perhaps stars that shouldn't be there.
Brilliant ideas. Now I will like more taking shots by night not just for the milky way. One question. When photographing the foreground, you just turned the focusing ring away from the infinity mark. Is that enough to get the foreground in focus in addition to the change in the aperture to f5?
Thank you so much on sharing your knowledge. Your description of the workflow was flawless. My only query is what lights did you use for lighting the car? I have been using an LED light and finding it too stark white. Would be interested to learn more about your equipment. Thank you.
Thanks for watching Ciaran. I use an LED Lenser P7.2 torch and cover this with a 1/2 cto gel (Part No 205) The reason I gel the torch is to warm up the typically blue led light from the torches. Also it helps if I cool the white balance of the camera down a bit, which I typically do to make the sky a richer colour with a touch of blue.
Hey. Great vid. But doesn't your lens change the angle a little while refocusing, so that final images become misaligned? Would be nice to see how do you fix it? Via PS -> Auto-align? Thx
Thanks for watching Boris. What you are referring to is Focus Breathing and yes this can be an issue but Auto Align in photoshop won't address that so much. What can happen is that you'll notice a black outline from the unlit layer underneath. I overcome this by trying to make that outline less visible in the final edit. You have to really look for it to actually see it.
Love your work, when you say about light balance, can you also say the type, I.e what k is what type of lighting ie tungsten or florescent, etc, some cameras dont have k ratings for white balance, just what they have. Thank you, love these videos
@@nightscapeimages.richard my nikon d7100 and d3400, have set white balance, rather than k ratings, so I dont always know what you mean when you say what k you are using
First video I watched on painting with light. Great presentation! As I am interested in giving light painting a try, what light source does one recommend. I am sure the answer is already out there, but I just started searching this topic. Very inspiring video! Thank you
Hello, Richard! I just discovered your channel almost 1 month ago and I've already watched most of your videos, I love the pieces of art you create (of course I've subscribed immediately and follow you in Instagram) thanks for the amazing knowledge you're sharing, I just ordered a torchlight to start practicing your techniques. I have a question: what happens if your camera moves a little bit when you are setting it up for the foreground exposures? Does it ruins the session? Once again, thank you for your art. And happy new year!!
Thanks so much for watching Guillermo, I really appreciate it. Yes it will ruin the image if you move the camera between shots. It's really important to have a good solid tripod and to be careful when handling the camera during the exposures.
A cracking tutorial Sir, it certainly has spurred me on to get on out there and try the technique. Up to now all my night shooting has been of the boring kind :O) Oh and thanks for replying to some of the comments below, not everyone does that and it certainly make a difference, well to me it does. Now where is that subscribe button.
I do really appreciate you taking the time to comment. This style of photography is my passion and I'm always very happy to encourage others when I can.
Great video! Thank you so much for uploading. Do you tend to only use flashlights in your light painting or are there other lights you frequently to use?
Thanks a lot for watching David. I do mostly use the flashlight as it gives me the best control of the spread of light. I do use LED light panels for lighting up larger objects such as trees or buildings sometimes. This is called low level lighting because in those situations I'll leave the light on the the whole duration of the shot at a very low level.
Richard, your work is absolutely fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you for showing us your method of work. I was going to ask you a question, but I saw that my doubt had already been answered in a previous comment. I read each of the messages and answers. I can’t understand how people ask five times the same question. People don’t read? Magnificent work, Sir. Greetings from Uruguay. PS: I forgot another question. How long do you illuminate the subject, in the 20 seconds that each photo lasts?
I’ve learned a lot from your editing techniques, thanks so much for sharing your expertise. One thing I’m having an issue with is when I stack my sky images in Sequator, the output image has a slightly darker sky. So when I blend it with my foreground images I have to mask my foreground subject against the sky image perfectly (which is next to impossible with a tree as the subject). My final image has the 2 different toned skies around the parts of my subject above the horizon. I tried again without the Sequator output with a single sky image blended with my foreground images and it still wasn’t a perfect color match with noise pollution and the blend wasn’t seamless. Not sure if I’m missing a step or if there’s a trick to avoid this?
Thanks for watching Alpha. Blending foregrounds and backgrounds can be very difficult and they almost always need some tweaking to get a match. Each shot will be different and I think the key is to try to get a subtle gradient between the two.
Fantastic tutorial. did you set the camera on a timer to release the shutter becouse you need to paint the object so you are not at the camera.And do je need to hold the light still when the shutter is open? and what i dont understand is how is the car stil sharp when you blend the backround picture with the less sharp car in the sharp foreground pictures. 2000 iso is still huge . i have a nikon d800 and i use a irix 15mm 2.5 but with 2000 iso there is noise . thank you again for this verry helpfull tutorial to get me started.
Thanks Franky. Firstly I use a wireless remote to trigger the shutter so I don't have to keep going back to the camera. I don't hold the light still ... I use gentle strokes back and forth .. it's literally painting with light. When you blend the images together whatever is on the top layer becomes visible and covers the bottom layer. The sky in the background layer is what is visible but the car is from the layers above it at a lower iso. Hope that's helpful.
yes , that's what I thought Franky. On my Sony APS-C system the noise and lousy colour come in above 800 ISO. I would have to expose the sky longer. He wanted no movement in the stars . For the car he has placed the images above the original shot where it is out of focus, [ lighten blend] opacity 100% so the images above the original have seniority. The sky is painted out on all these car images.
@5:07 I'm just curious as to what insects are crawling all over your camera? I hope those are gnats and not flies. If flies then the Nikon = shite theory is confirmed which makes me sad even though they can't make their own sensors. (I'm actually looking into Nikon as my next purchase for a few things they have going on that others don't.) Sir your work is outstanding by the way, I feel you could almost pull off these shots with a Holga!
You've got good vision . .I'd say neither .. possible some other sort of bug . .we have them all down here in Australia. I can assure you the Nikon Z cameras are best in class for night photography. Thanks for watching.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank you for the tip! At least it's not flies!! Yes I need something a bit more than what my pair of canon cameras offer, And I remember being fond of Nikon when 35mm was still in fashion. There must be a good reason they're using Sony sensors. Love your Church edit vid too, yes I noticed you have those pesky bugs there too we have those in the states not sure what they are but lil light brown flying in the ear pests! thanks for posting all the info you do!
Gone back to further videos & a very young looking Richard.
Love the process & a stunning finished image 👏👍🇮🇪
Haha, well you will see a bit of ageing on this channel Vivian.
Not sure how many times I have watched and learned from this video.
Thanks so much for your continued support.
i can watch your videos for hours, beautiful places and a lot to learn
Thanks so much for watching. I really appreciate it.
Bonsoir très belle démonstration de PS et LR j'adore votre façon de travailler merci à vous bon ciel et bonnes photos !
Thanks again for your great support Patrick.
You explain this process in an easy to digest way, and your work is visually stunning. I can't wait to experiment with these techniques in my photo and video experiments.
Thank you for your very kind and encouraging comments. I'll be keen to see how you go.
After reading the other comments I would only be repeating what's already been said, very well done. Your insights will raise the quality of my photos ten fold.
Many thanks 😊
Thank you so much for watching, I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for introdution and inspiration!!!
You are very welcome Matthias.
thank you for all your work and teachings
Thanks so much
Another excellent instructional video. I'm saving all your videos in a separate folder to watch repeatedly. I love that the videos teach you everything from how to find suitable foreground objects to light paint, how to capture the night sky, and how to edit them and blend to make the most of them. It's all delivered in a clear, concise and inspirational way that really makes me want to have a go myself. Thank you so much for this. These are easily the best videos on night photography.
I'm really pleased the videos are helpful Simon. Always happy to hear what subject matter you'd like me to cover in future videos.
I stumbled across your channel this morning and I have been binge watching and trying out all of these different methods lol. Finding your videos has been such a great experience. The way you lay this all out is making it so much clearer for me. Thanks again!
I really appreciate you watching the videos Jim. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I very much appreciate the time and effort you take to put these extremely informative instructional videos together. I can't wait to go out and put these techniques into practice. Thank you.
Really appreciate your comments Michael
Wow Richard, love this! So glad I discovered your channel! Can’t wait to try some of your techniques!!
Thanks so much for having a look Barry, really appreciate your support.
This is amazing.
Because I have a APS-C camera (Canon 800D) I'll start with a Tokina 11mm 16mm lens the one you recommended me.👍👍👍
Wonderful, that's a really good combination.
Wonderful results.......explained in a way that everyone can understand and appreciate.
Thank you so much for your comments Old400 .. it means a lot.
Wise words Richard... life is a journey 🙏🏽
Thanks very much for watching Faster.
Nightscape Images thank you Richard, I follow you since... 🤔 a year ago? I don’t remember exactly but, for the very first time I saw your videos, I was amazed for your work, and every Friday (here in Peru) I wait to see another video, your videos help me a lot to take some pictures of the Milky Way, composition, technique, light painting etc. I’m very thankful for all your passion and knowledge.
By the way my mane is José Luis Chacón and i live in Cusco Peru 🇵🇪 hope one day you’ll come to my country and I’ll be very glad to be your host.
Take care and thanks again.
@@jlchacon73 Thank you once again for supporting my work Jose . .it's really appreciated.
Fantastic work! Thanks for giving an overview of your process. Lovely art.
I'm really pleased you like it John, thank you.
Beautiful work never ages.
I really appreciate that David. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for taking the time to show us your work flow. I am looking forward to trying my first light painting thanks to your inspiration.
That's fantastic Eric. I'm very pleased that you feel inspired to give it a go. I'd love to see what you come up with.
This was a great explanation of light painting, I really appreciate the photoshop layer/mask explanation and seeing layer by layer how much detail is added by the light. Awesome video, your work is beautiful
Thanks so much for watching Sarah, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Absolutely love your work .,
QUESTION - when u photographed the car in this image , could u please specify where on the car u placed the focus point .
Thank you !
You are an incredible inspiration ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks so much for watching Bernie. I shot this car a long time ago, but often these days unless the car is very close I'll keep the focus at infinity. By changing the aperture for the foreground exposure the focal plane widens and brings the subject into focus. If the subject is very close then I'll re-focus onto the front of the car. Hope that helps.
I'm so hooked. I love shooting at night, long exposures and macro photography. Your videos have inspired me to put all three together and hopefully with some practice put great pieces of art on my wall. Thanks.
All the best David. Thanks for watching
Hi Richard,
I took the time yesterday to watch all your videos on TH-cam. It's a beautiful job, thank you for your sharing and your explanations very clear. I know the work that it represents, bravo!
Olivier from Belgium
Hi Olivier, thanks so much for your lovely comments, it means a lot. I really appreciate that you took the effort to watch all my videos.
It was not an effort, it was a real pleasure!
Thanks again !
I took a beautiful picture of Neowise tonight. I bough the introvelometer like you suggested and used it to help capture some nice pictures. Thanks for your help Richard
I'm really pleased to hear that Ken ... great stuff.
Whow ... Graet Photos and a very good tutorial 👍
Really pleased you like it Andreas ... thank you
Learning so much from your tutorials, the final images are just stunning. Thank you
Thanks Michael, I'm really glad you like them.
Awesome tutorial, love the way you explain everything in-depth and eloquently. Super enjoyable & very informative. Also amazing images as always. Thanks heaps for sharing a little bit of your workflow for post-processing. 😊🙌👍👏👏👏
Thanks very much Peter. I really appreciate your kind comments. I have quite a few post processing videos in the collection.
@@nightscapeimages.richard I’ll be browsing through your content 😀😉
@@peterviragphoto I appreciate that Peter
These videos are such a pleasure to watch. Everything is so well explained and the final images are beautiful. Thank you for making these. As an aspiring photographer, these are really helpful. I'm going to try some light painting shots this week.
Really appreciated Mike. I absolutely love my nightscape photography and my desire is to share the passion and determination that's required to get great shots.
Wow ,what a splendid tutorial, it was great to see how the different layers come together to produce your final image. You`re enjoyable to listen to and thanks for sharing your knowledge :). Now I just have to master my LUMIX FZ300 :).
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement.
Tried to do the light painting this weekend, so hard! I failed in getting decent images and my stacking didn't work out at all! do so enjoy your videos on TH-cam, thank you.
It takes time to work it all out Margaret. I appreciate you watching.
This was an awesome video. Just started lighting in the dark and love it. Appreciate the info.
Thanks Cindy ... I hope you feel inspired to get out and give it a try.
Thank you for this straight forward explanation, it's much appreciated. Cheers Paul (PRK)
I'm glad you like it Paul
Thank you, brilliant video, love the light painting, beautiful photo's. p.s. Just happened to watch this one again...and loved it :)
Thanks so much, really appreciated.
I've been wondering how this was done. Thank you so much for such a detailed and easy to understand video tutorial.
Thank you very much Robin
Great tutorial, I just came from browsing low light tube photography. At first I thought about skipping this one, as I have done painting with light before. Then you hooked me with the pinsharp stars at the back while having to spend time painting-in the subject. The few times I've done painting with light, I always tried to do it in one go. Taking different shots for different angles is actually a brilliant and logic way to do it, as you cut down on noise and you can light the same area of your subject multiple times, giving you more options to combine, especially if you have not refined your painting technique. If you burn out a detail while doing it in one go, it could potentially be the cause of great frustration. Sometimes..., (no correction), ...it's always worthwhile to revisit something you've done in the past, because somewhere out there someone else is doing the same thing with a much better approach! Thank you!
Very wise words indeed Frans. Thanks so much for commenting.
Always happy to see a new video from you. Thanks for this one, I've been thinking about trying this for some time now. Great job as always.
Much appreciated Tomorn
You inspired me a lot more, i really loved this!
Thank you so much for watching my friend, I really appreciate that.
Nikon d 7000camera settings ji
@@arunstudiom.v.kuppammaha If you're asking what settings to use with a Nikon D7000 camera, they will be very similar to those I used here. I all depends on the lens you use also.
You're an amazing photographer!
Very kind of you to say my friend. Thanks so much for watching.
Excellent video, thanks a lot for sharing! 😃👍
This technic triggers my imagination to probably solve a problem with an idea for a picture that is sticking in my brain for years now. Again, thank you so much! Subscribed of course!
Cheers, Martin
Thanks so much Martin, I'm glad to have added to your inspiration. Appreciate you watching.
thank you so much for sharing your process. you give very clear explanations. I am making a start into lightpainting and loving it. I have suscribed to your channel. love your photos.
Thanks Gary. There isn't very much out there on this form of photography so I'm happy to provide some of my experiences.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, you are inspiring me very much! Greetings from Germany
Really appreciate your support Markus
I really want to start doing this style of photography. So beautiful
Thanks Will. I'm so glad you feel inspired to do some night photography and light painting. Happy to help if I can.
Nightscape Images What is the technique you used to remove the sky from all but the first image called? Mask brush? I have some Photoshop courses but not sure what to look for.
I use layer masks and simply rub out the areas I don't want to use. Also apply the lighten blend mode which helps with this.
Nightscape Images That should help me find a detailed video of how to do it. I appreciate your help. 👍🙏
It is very hard to describe without the visuals Will
Fantastic video. Thank from Spain.
Really appreciate you watching Jose, thank you
Great videos, you're doing the lords work
Thanks very much David
Yes , thanks for this. Up till now I would just bang of some flashes in the foreground, with a hope and wish. Sometimes OK sometimes not. I like the idea of the torch and experience with fstop and time to get things right. Also changing the colour temperature from a cold blue sky to warmer in front. Thanks very much
Thanks for the comment Paul .. really appreciated
Wow!! Just beautiful , I think it actually looked best with one less light paint layer the composition right before the last added.
This is your second video i have watched, i Subscribe on the first video before i finished watching it. I like the way you describe how to do it, and like how you put the numbers up on the screen.
I am really enjoying watching your videos and going wow at the final image. Thank you for amazing videos. Look forward to watching more.
Really appreciate your kind words Glen
Nightscape Images most welcome, thank you for your beautiful work and amazing ways of achieving them
Very inspiring. Looking to take my night photograpy to this level. Just subscribed to your channel. Lots to learn. Thanks for taking the time to show us how. Semper Fly.
Thank you very much for watching.
THANK YOU!!!!! New sub 👋 thank you for explaining everything including the shoot and your settings. Can't wait to watch some more of your videos.
Really glad it's helpful Michelle. You can see more of my work at www.nightscapeimages.com.au
Great shot, and thorough explanation of your technique. The summary, I thought should include the "lighten" blend mode used.
Good idea Peter ... thanks for the comment.
Your videos are awesome! keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for the comment Brandon really appreciated.
I really appreciate the video. I have been planning to get out and take some nightscape photos, but was not sure how photographers were capturing the fore ground detail. I can see that light painting could have a number of applications. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for your comment Martin really appreciated. Light painting is a wonderful art form.
Thank you for sharing your techniques
I really appreciate you watching Maria
Thank you so much for this video - it will improve my lightpainting hobby, I'm sure.
Thanks for your encouragement Ralf
Excellent thorough tutorial, thankyou!
Really appreciated jeebs ... !!!
Thanks for this and many other of your videos. I discovered your channel recently, being interested in the art of light painting. I have a question, one that may be answered elsewhere but I have not seen it yet. How do you coordinate the start of the exposure period with being in the right location to do the light painting?
Thanks so much for watching Chris. I use a wireless remote shutter release so that I'm already in position when the shutter is triggered. There are many you could use but I love the Yongnuo rf603ii. www.amazon.com.au/Yongnuo-Professional-Flash-Trigger-RF-603/dp/B013E1YF3Y/ref=sr_1_2?adgrpid=122112287995&gclid=CjwKCAiAtouOBhA6EiwA2nLKH3qWAQrFH6vQaEh9LjNSRpwXippszX67EvAHjsDHemPFmP52DsezchoCNygQAvD_BwE&hvadid=516459594710&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9071496&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13670557097762560292&hvtargid=kwd-296736535111&hydadcr=14732_16212&keywords=yongnuo+rf+603+ii&qid=1640214199&sr=8-2
@@nightscapeimages.richard thanks for the quick response Richard. That was almost too obvious, in hind sight. I have an A7R, so I’ll find an equivalent.
Excellent video. I think most people when they hear about light painting think of people doodling with light sources using a long exposure not making such great images like the ones you made.
Yes that is often the perception of light painting. Personally I don't go too much for that stuff. Really appreciate you watching Jack.
Great video on technique! Very helpful!
Thanks so much for your encouragement.
Spot on mate, your a star.
I don't know about that John ... but thanks anyway.
Great tutorial. What's the average time that you would leave the light shining on a particular area ? Thanks for your help.
Thanks for looking. It depends on lots of factors, such as colour of subject, brightness and distance of torch etc but maybe 5-10 seconds.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks for your help.
Back in the stone age I used to do this kind of work on film using a Mamiya Super 23. Things were lit with my Norman 200 stobe and I lit the fore ground buy changing the focus. You system sounds complicated but beliueve me its a breeze compared to what I had to do.
It's amazing how things change as we adopt new systems. Thanks so much for watching.
This video should have much more likes. I really enjoyed your video. It was a real pleasure to follow you on your way of how to create this beautiful image. Your explanations were superb! Thats why I immediately subscribed to your channel. Thanks a lot!
Thanks very much for your comment .. really appreciated.
Thanks going to scotland in May for a few weeks .ive tried long time exposure usually 20 sec and lighting the fore ground with a torch with not much luck.But if the weather's right I'll have another go i dont won't to edit it on a pc but would like to do it "with in the camera" thanks for the inspiration
Thanks so much for watching Geoff, really appreciate it. I hope your trip to Scotland goes really well.
Thank you so much Richard. You made a great video here. Inspires me to get out there and get some beautiful night scapes myself. Your work is inspirational and beautiful. Fine art indeed. Blessings to you my Friend, I have subscribed! O:)
Thanks for your wonderful comments bassplayer60 ... it means a lot.
That's is very very nice I've got something very similar in mind. The only problem is there are a lot of old cars. In a line beside a highway. And the background is not very nice. The cars are on small hill. I was thinking of maybe a small light inside the cars. Maybe a foggy night to cover the background. Are should I just pick 1 car? And focus on 1 like this car is coming back alive. I've got a cannon t6i. And to be honest It's been laying around for a year. So I've got to brush up. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Photograph lets me look at the world around me in a different light. Can't wait to try to get shooting done. I got my books but seeing it being done helps more. Thanks again.
Hey Billy, sorry for my late response on this. I really appreciate you watching my videos and thanks so much for the comment.
Excellent tutorial! Thank you!
Really appreciate the comment Terry ... thanks a lot
Great video! Please tell me what luminous flux of the flashlight is necessary for sufficient illumination of objects. For example, cars, trees, small houses?
Thanks a lot for watching Anton. I only use about a 300 lumen torch and many times it isn't at it's brightest setting. The distance to subject and length of time shining the beam as well as the zoom of the beam all come into consideration as well.
Great photo. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for commenting Henry
Great video! Ive been on my journey for 6 years not and still learning alot!
Awesome
Really like that looking for more
Thanks a lot Rakesh ... really appreciate you watching.
Awesome instructions! Thank you!
Thanks very much for watching
Wow!! Incredible. What exact model of Nikon lens are you using?
Thanks so much for watching. This is the Nikon 20mm f1.8G
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks.
Well done! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Wayne, much appreciated.
great video you just got me enthusiastic about getting out at night again .
Thanks Tony, that's so great to hear.
No Thankyou your tutorial was great easy to understand and great images to boot. im looking forward to getting my camranger so i can control the camera from a distance and changing focus and anything i want without touching the camera, it should be perfect for this sort of light painting as the range of the wifi connection is pretty good i think its 150 ft so should be very helpful. i will be looking for more tips from you cheers....
That's awesome Tony
Cool video! Was really interesting to watch.
Thanks so much for your comments Christopher
Love this idea... you are lighting the subject with a flash light.... kind of like painting...? need to try this out! Thank!
Thanks Ziyan. Yes I am using a flashlight with brush strokes ... just like painting.
Amaising
Thank you so much for watching my friend
Hi Richard, thanks for your inspirational video, and chance to see your stunning images. May I ask if you keep your focal point in the same spot on the car for all the variously lit foreground images, or do you move it for each shot to the area you are lighting? Thanks again!
Thanks Julia, really appreciate your encouragement. Regarding focal point. Once I stop down the aperture I leave the focal point at the same place generally, especially when using wide angle lenses as the focus plane is fairly wide at f5 for example. However if the subject is a longer item going away from the camera I may change it from the closest point to somewhere near the most distant point. Another option in that case is to close the aperture down even further to perhaps f8 and simply add more light. Hopefully that helps.
Brilliant! Thank you so much Richard :)
No problem at all Julia ... always happy to help.
This is a great video. One thing that isn't mentioned, though (and is in fact almost never mentioned in these sorts of videos) is the focus breathing which occurs when you change your focal distance on the lens. You're going to wind up with a different image after refocusing from the sky to the car, and given that this is a pretty wide lens (20mm) the distortion along with the change in focal length makes this exceptionally difficult to just use Align-Layers. I'm always curious to hear how people go about mitigating this challenge.
Thanks for watching Philippe. You are absolutely correct regarding the focus breathing. In most images I have not found it to be too much of a problem as the technique of actually lighting the subject tends to mask this slight black shadow from the observer. It is certainly there but in the big picture doesn't detract very much from the overall image. One way to help mitigate this is to ensure that there are actually dark and light areas in the image. Where there are shadows present the dark edge becomes invisible anyway. This is part of the overall technique and as I often mention when lighting ... never light from the same angle as the camera ... side light creates more dark and moody shadows which in turn helps hide the out of focus shadow you are referring to.
Nightscape Images I understand, and really, some of what I was referring to (methods for how you blend layers, masks, alignment) becomes its own tutorial altogether, so I certainly don't fault you or intent and criticism on your workflow. There is always something more to cover, but this is another critical aspect. Anyway, I enjoyed your video and you have a beautiful gallery of work.
Thanks again for watching and your comments are very valid indeed.
Richard... I'm enjoying learning about your technique. I'm puzzled though why the attention to in-camera white balance when you're shooting Raw files and can always change the white balance afterward in edit. Please explain. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching really appreciate it. I think it's because I don't like to encourage anyone to default to auto settings. You are correct that you can easily adjust the white balance in post production. There are many situations where you want to ensure multiple images have the same look .. eg: Star Trails, Time lapse etc. I prefer to set my white balance and then if need be I can still change it later in post anyway .. If I leave it on auto then my options are more limited and as mentioned I think it's a bad habit for nightscapes. For daylight photography I have no issues with auto white balance.
@@nightscapeimages.richard I will be teaching a light painting workshop to the Boise (Idaho) Camera Club in a couple of weeks. I will base much of the instruction on things I've learned watching your TH-cam videos. We will be using one of the member's cool Harley motorcycle as a subject. Have you done any motorcycles in your work and if so, perhaps you could provide me a link to a shot for inspiration? Thanks... Love your stuff.
@@Truelight54 Thanks again my friend. I haven't done a lot of motorcycles .. certainly not for a long time. There is one image on this page: www.nightscapeimages.com.au/automotive.html
Hi , wonderful tutorial.I am just starting out and have a question that may be very obvious to a lot of people but when you are in the dark, would you shine a brighter light onto the subject and focus first and then start painting? And secondly, do you refocus each shot on the area that you are working on? Many thanks and what a wonderful hobby
Thanks heaps for watching little engine. They are great questions. Yes I do use a brighter light onto the subject to ensure good focus, secondly .. no I don't generally need to re-focus for every foreground shot as the focus won't change enough to matter at the settings I've punched into the camera.
@@nightscapeimages.richard fantastic-! thank you for your reply. I can't wait to start this new adventure with light and evenings.
layering is fantastic but as you mentioned is a laborious process in photoshop - what if i do hdr with lightroom, how will be the outcome do you think? excellent work by the way.
Thanks so much for watching. Lightroom doesn't have any ability to remove areas of an image that contains stray light or perhaps stars that shouldn't be there.
Brilliant ideas. Now I will like more taking shots by night not just for the milky way.
One question. When photographing the foreground, you just turned the focusing ring away from the infinity mark. Is that enough to get the foreground in focus in addition to the change in the aperture to f5?
I actually made sure I was focused on the car by looking at the live view screen.
@@nightscapeimages.richard
That makes sense now. By the way, I got the answer to my question through another video of yours. I appreciate that
Thank you so much on sharing your knowledge. Your description of the workflow was flawless.
My only query is what lights did you use for lighting the car? I have been using an LED light and finding it too stark white. Would be interested to learn more about your equipment.
Thank you.
Thanks for watching Ciaran. I use an LED Lenser P7.2 torch and cover this with a 1/2 cto gel (Part No 205) The reason I gel the torch is to warm up the typically blue led light from the torches. Also it helps if I cool the white balance of the camera down a bit, which I typically do to make the sky a richer colour with a touch of blue.
Hey. Great vid.
But doesn't your lens change the angle a little while refocusing, so that final images become misaligned? Would be nice to see how do you fix it? Via PS -> Auto-align?
Thx
Thanks for watching Boris. What you are referring to is Focus Breathing and yes this can be an issue but Auto Align in photoshop won't address that so much. What can happen is that you'll notice a black outline from the unlit layer underneath. I overcome this by trying to make that outline less visible in the final edit. You have to really look for it to actually see it.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Merci ;)
Wonderful... Great job!
Lutero Rômulo Thank you very much Lutero your encouragement means a lot.
Many thanks
WOW! that looks phenomenal :-)
Thanks very much ... really appreciate you taking the time to watch.
Thanks. Yes it's always up to the individual interpretation and sometimes less is more.
Love your work, when you say about light balance, can you also say the type, I.e what k is what type of lighting ie tungsten or florescent, etc, some cameras dont have k ratings for white balance, just what they have. Thank you, love these videos
Yes that is a very good point you make Andy, I really appreciate your insight on the matter. Thanks for watching.
@@nightscapeimages.richard my nikon d7100 and d3400, have set white balance, rather than k ratings, so I dont always know what you mean when you say what k you are using
@@andysuzierawlins5462 This may help. fstoppers.com/post-production/learn-shoot-proper-white-balance-using-kelvin-temps-3328
First video I watched on painting with light. Great presentation! As I am interested in giving light painting a try, what light source does one recommend. I am sure the answer is already out there, but I just started searching this topic. Very inspiring video! Thank you
Thanks so much Vincent. I use an LED Lenser P7.2 torch (Flashlight). There are lots of other possibilities also.
You explanation is so simple
I'm glad you like it my friend, thanks for watching.
WONDERFUL VIDEO I SUBSCRIBE NOW!!!! BRAVO
Thank you
Hello, Richard! I just discovered your channel almost 1 month ago and I've already watched most of your videos, I love the pieces of art you create (of course I've subscribed immediately and follow you in Instagram) thanks for the amazing knowledge you're sharing, I just ordered a torchlight to start practicing your techniques. I have a question: what happens if your camera moves a little bit when you are setting it up for the foreground exposures? Does it ruins the session?
Once again, thank you for your art.
And happy new year!!
Thanks so much for watching Guillermo, I really appreciate it. Yes it will ruin the image if you move the camera between shots. It's really important to have a good solid tripod and to be careful when handling the camera during the exposures.
Fabulous
Thank you so much for watching Al
A cracking tutorial Sir, it certainly has spurred me on to get on out there and try the technique. Up to now all my night shooting has been of the boring kind :O)
Oh and thanks for replying to some of the comments below, not everyone does that and it certainly make a difference, well to me it does.
Now where is that subscribe button.
I do really appreciate you taking the time to comment. This style of photography is my passion and I'm always very happy to encourage others when I can.
Wonderful tutorial ... thank you .
Thanks very much for watching
Great video! Thank you so much for uploading. Do you tend to only use flashlights in your light painting or are there other lights you frequently to use?
Thanks a lot for watching David. I do mostly use the flashlight as it gives me the best control of the spread of light. I do use LED light panels for lighting up larger objects such as trees or buildings sometimes. This is called low level lighting because in those situations I'll leave the light on the the whole duration of the shot at a very low level.
Richard, your work is absolutely fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you for showing us your method of work. I was going to ask you a question, but I saw that my doubt had already been answered in a previous comment. I read each of the messages and answers. I can’t understand how people ask five times the same question. People don’t read? Magnificent work, Sir. Greetings from Uruguay.
PS: I forgot another question. How long do you illuminate the subject, in the 20 seconds that each photo lasts?
I'm really pleased you like it. Thanks so much for watching.
Yes 20 seconds in this case
I’ve learned a lot from your editing techniques, thanks so much for sharing your expertise. One thing I’m having an issue with is when I stack my sky images in Sequator, the output image has a slightly darker sky. So when I blend it with my foreground images I have to mask my foreground subject against the sky image perfectly (which is next to impossible with a tree as the subject). My final image has the 2 different toned skies around the parts of my subject above the horizon. I tried again without the Sequator output with a single sky image blended with my foreground images and it still wasn’t a perfect color match with noise pollution and the blend wasn’t seamless. Not sure if I’m missing a step or if there’s a trick to avoid this?
Thanks for watching Alpha. Blending foregrounds and backgrounds can be very difficult and they almost always need some tweaking to get a match. Each shot will be different and I think the key is to try to get a subtle gradient between the two.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks for the tip, I'll keep practicing
Fantastic tutorial. did you set the camera on a timer to release the shutter becouse you need to paint the object so you are not at the camera.And do je need to hold the light still when the shutter is open? and what i dont understand is how is the car stil sharp when you blend the backround picture with the less sharp car in the sharp foreground pictures. 2000 iso is still huge . i have a nikon d800 and i use a irix 15mm 2.5 but with 2000 iso there is noise . thank you again for this verry helpfull tutorial to get me started.
Thanks Franky. Firstly I use a wireless remote to trigger the shutter so I don't have to keep going back to the camera. I don't hold the light still ... I use gentle strokes back and forth .. it's literally painting with light. When you blend the images together whatever is on the top layer becomes visible and covers the bottom layer. The sky in the background layer is what is visible but the car is from the layers above it at a lower iso. Hope that's helpful.
yes , that's what I thought Franky. On my Sony APS-C system the noise and lousy colour come in above 800 ISO. I would have to expose the sky longer. He wanted no movement in the stars . For the car he has placed the images above the original shot where it is out of focus, [ lighten blend] opacity 100% so the images above the original have seniority. The sky is painted out on all these car images.
Very nice
Thanks Luna, really appreciate your comments
@5:07 I'm just curious as to what insects are crawling all over your camera? I hope those are gnats and not flies. If flies then the Nikon = shite theory is confirmed which makes me sad even though they can't make their own sensors. (I'm actually looking into Nikon as my next purchase for a few things they have going on that others don't.) Sir your work is outstanding by the way, I feel you could almost pull off these shots with a Holga!
You've got good vision . .I'd say neither .. possible some other sort of bug . .we have them all down here in Australia. I can assure you the Nikon Z cameras are best in class for night photography. Thanks for watching.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank you for the tip! At least it's not flies!! Yes I need something a bit more than what my pair of canon cameras offer, And I remember being fond of Nikon when 35mm was still in fashion. There must be a good reason they're using Sony sensors. Love your Church edit vid too, yes I noticed you have those pesky bugs there too we have those in the states not sure what they are but lil light brown flying in the ear pests! thanks for posting all the info you do!