The light painting feature allows guests to draw in mid-air with various lighting tools and see their creations come to life in real time. Follow along below for a basic overview of the Light Painting tab.


WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

  • Our Light Painting Feature uses a DSLR for the long exposure, while a webcam provides a live view of what you're painting. The guest poses in front of your booth and the camera will flash once. The guest remains still while you/your attendant runs around the guest with a laser or other light painting tool to create streaks and patterns of light.
  • A very, very dark room.  A pitch black environment if possible (we recommend setting up inside a tent, like this one)
  • Along with a pitch black environment, you'll need LIGHTS!  You can use anything from light sabers to glow wands! We do sell our own custom light wand which can be found HERE. Otherwise, you can try searching for Rave Light Toys on any website like amazon.com.

Light Paint Mode

  • Disabled: Turns off the use of Light Painting
  • Enabled: Turns on the ability for Light Painting

Start: Begin taking a light painting (for the purposes of testing)

Mirror Output Photo: The photo that is created will be flipped left to right. This can make it easier to write with light.

Preset Times: From the drop down list, you can determine how long (in seconds) to allow your guests to create their light painting images. Choosing None allows you to take photos using several trigger options.


Camera Settings


Orientation:

Use this option to change the orientation of the webcam or DSLR.


Crop %:

Use this option to adjust the crop percentage of your selected device by typing the number in the corresponding box, or using the up/down arrows. The live preview window will automatically adjust to your crop settings.


Keep Aspect Ratio:

Use this option to choose the aspect ratio setting for the selected device by selecting from the drop down list. Generally you can keep this DSLR on Disabled, but webcam should be set to 3:2 to match the DSLR.



Webcam: Use this option to adjust the light and flash sensitivity for your light painting event.  You may need to customize these settings in order to get the best light painting results.

  • Light Sensitivity: Move the slide to the right if the light trails look dim.
  • Flash Sensitivity: Use this slider to adjust the flash sensitivity of the webcam for the webcam preview. Move the slider to the right if the people in the photo look dim.
  • Flash Delay (ms): Use the spinner buttons to change the time (milliseconds) when the webcam sensitivity changes from Flash Sensitivity to Light Sensitivity.


DSLR: Select the DSLR tab to allow you to adjust camera settings for the DSLR camera during Light Painting.  With this selected, you'll be provided with a number of options:

  • TV: Adjusts your Shutter Speed. Generally it can be left on Bulb for light painting.
  • AV: Adjusts your aperture/f stop). Generally it can be set to 8 for light painting.  Changing this to a higher number will make photos darker.
  • ISO: Adjusts the sensitivity of the digital film. Generally can be set to 100 for light painting. Changing this to a higher number will make photos brighter (but with more grain/noise)
  • WB: Adjusts the white balance.

Examples


Hooray!  You have completed the overview of Light Painting!