Can you combine multiple exposures to make longer light-painting photos?
Asked 5/27/2012
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I’m experimenting with light writing/light painting using a camera that only allows a maximum 16-second shutter time. Can I take multiple exposures and combine them in post to create the effect of a longer exposure? If so, are there any limitations, such as gaps in the light trail or changes in the background? Also, could a similar effect be created with a phone by combining video frames or multiple shots?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
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Provided there is no gap between exposures, there is no difference between recording one long exposure in which light is collected and measured, and taking two short exposures and adding the collected light values together.
The problem occurs when you have gaps in time between exposures, as this will cause, for example gaps in the writing. If you use separate exposures for each word you ought to be able to add hem together into more extensive light writing images.
Whether you can do this with videos from your phone depends on the "shutter angle" which is an old fashioned term for how long each frame is exposed for compared to the duration between frames. I suspect phones use a 360 shutter angle, i.e. the frames are exposed for the maximum amount of time, with no gaps. This means you should be able to add the frames together to get light writing with no gaps, it then becomes an exercise in scripting to split the video to frames and add them together.
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
14y ago
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Yes. For light painting, multiple shorter exposures can be combined to simulate a longer exposure, as long as the camera and scene stay perfectly aligned. In principle, adding the light from two exposures is equivalent to one longer exposure.
The main limitation is gaps: if there is any time between exposures, the light trail will have breaks. That means this works best if you split the writing into separate parts or words and combine them later in an editor using layers or lightening/additive blending. A very dark scene helps, because it reduces visible background changes and ghosting.
If the room or subject is lit, differences between frames can make compositing harder. Keeping everything else dark makes the light writing much easier to merge cleanly.
For phones, combining video frames could work only if each frame is exposed continuously with little or no gap between them. If there are gaps between frames, the light trail will be discontinuous. Multiple stills can also be combined the same way if the phone and scene remain fixed.
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