Peter Zentjens

Alright, I don’t think I need to tell you what a difference proper lighting can make to a photo. But when I was working on my latest photo, Radio Electricity , I was looking at he composition photo and thought: I got to put this on RB as an extension to my painted with light article .

I’ve you read my tutorial on my painted with light technique then you already know that I start with finding the right angle to set up the tripod and then I make the composition. All of this I do with available light. In case of Radio Electricity that were overhead fluorescent tubes. Just about the ugliest light you can get in my opinion. During this process I take several test shots to see how it comes out in 2D.
Here is the final test shot of the composition that was used for the actual photograph (minus a slight bump into the tripod, sigh).

Rather drab, wouldn’t you say? Ugly, may even come to mind?

Now here is the same shot, after I had a go at it with my flashlight and photoshop to melt a few of the images together to get a photo with the light spots right where I wanted them. Not to mention the fact that the radio lights are on, which is kinda hard when it’s unplugged. ;)

Something quite different I would say, apart from whether you like it or not.

I know, this was a rather silly post, perhaps, but I found the difference quite striking. My wife even didn’t believe me at first when I told her it where the exact same images except for the light. I specially hope that those of you who read the painted with light tutorial and wanted to have there own go at the technique found this helpful.

Cheers