Museum Light Painting Project {Behind the Scenes - BTS}

It's been a long time coming, but we finally have a video put together that talks a little bit about light painting and gives details on the project we're doing at the Air Mobility Command Museum. If you're curious about what we've been doing there, then this is the video for you. Plus, there's some additional comments below that weren't included in the video.

Question & Answer

Q: How were you able to do these photos at night?

A: We were able to to the photos at night by having a good relationship with the staff at the Air Mobility Command Museum. My husband often helps them with maintenance on their C-5 that they have on display, and we had talked to them about doing photos of their aircraft. We gave them examples of our work by showing them on our cell phones and bringing in our laptop so they could see recent light painting images we had completed. Also, since my husband is military we were able to access the AMC Museum compound at night with no issues from security forces on base.

Q: Who watches your kids while you are out photographing things until early morning hours?

A: Grandma watches the kids while we're out taking photos. She plays with them, lets them watch their favorite shows, and gets them ready for bed at a decent time. They're always in bed long before we get home. If it wasn't for grandma helping us out, it would be pretty hard to do projects like this.

Q: How long does it take you to photograph one aircraft?

A: It really depends on several different things. First, how big is the aircraft? Light painting the C-5 took much longer than it did to light paint the Huey mainly because of its size. We had a lot of space to cover, and a lot of details to make sure we captured for the final photograph. In all, it took roughly 6 hours to photograph the C-5 from start to finish. The total time it took to photograph the Huey was about 2 hours. As you can see, it really depends on the size of the aircraft. Something else to factor in is if we experience any trouble with our lights, or if the camera accidentally gets moved. If we start taking photos and somewhere in the middle the camera accidentally gets moved then we have to start all over again. The camera has to stay in the same place the whole time, and it doesn't take much to move it. Also, as you see in the video we were fighting with a light we had borrowed. Sometimes unexpected things happen and it can cause us to take longer than we had hoped.

Q: You mentioned the camera moving being a problem, how do you solve this issue?

A: The best way to solve the problem is to set the camera up and tether it to your computer. Using the computer to make adjustments to camera settings, preview the images shot, and to take the photos really makes a huge difference. We didn't do this at first with the smaller aircraft such as the Huey, and it turned out okay. However, when we experimented with this on the C-5 in earlier photos we took, there was just no way it would work without tethering the camera because there are so many images that you have to take that it's impossible to keep the camera from moving much without tethering it. We also made sure that we weighted the camera down because any slight movement around the camera (since the tripod was on gravel) made it move.

Q: Does it take practice to use the technique "painting with light" or can you just pick it up and run with it?

A: It depends on what you're planning on taking photos of for the most part, and your skill with your camera. If you know your camera well (meaning settings) then it should be relatively easy to make adjustments and figure out the best way to light paint your subject. When it comes to the actual light painting itself, it's pretty easy. You will have to play with it a bit in test images to see what you come up with. Some settings work while others very obviously don't. How long you hold the light on an area decides the exposure to that spot, so it could take some practice to get an idea of how long the light needs to be there to properly expose it. In a short answer, yes, you would probably have to practice a bit to get the image you're trying to achieve.

Q: How many aircraft do you plan to photograph?

A: As many as we can get! We would like to get at least 14 aircraft done that way we can make a full year calendar with the images. We could then sell the calendars and individual images. Since we're not making money off of the project itself, the only money we would have coming in would be from products we sell of the images. Once we're done with the project we will add products to an online store through our website. We are looking at possibly sending a certain percentage of that to the Air Mobility Command Museum, but haven't come to a solid conclusion on how much it would be.