Two classic Mini Coopers, a dark warehouse, a camera, and a whole lot of prancing around with an LED wand makes for a damn good Friday night.


That’s exactly what I learned a few weeks ago. The prancing was both for lighting and for warmth. Even inside the garage it was near-freezing.


These Minis are owned by two brothers who’ve taken two very different paths. The black 1974 Mini is mostly stock and seems to be in very good condition. The blue 1967 Mini is upgraded with competitive driving in mind; a roll-cage and suspension bits along with shorter gear ratios give it a perfectly rough-n-ready vibe. Look out for a driving video with these two later in the summer.



Last time I posted about lightpainting I was using a cheap LED from a gas station, I’ve since upgraded to a much brighter but still cheap LED wand from Amazon. This allows me to get more consistent lighting on the cars along with the ability to light more of the car with each exposure, this is important especially when working with multiple vehicles.


In order to get the desired effect I had to light the cars from a multiple angles in turn insuring that all the bits and bobs are lit-up nicely. This is where the prancing comes in, around and around the cars I went, as you can see in this behind-the-scenes time-lapse:

About two hours of shooting and many, many hours of editing later, I was done. Or, as done as I’d ever be, these still aren’t perfect:





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