Bulb vs Manual for tube light-painting

This tutorial applies mostly to tube light-painting when working outdoors with a model and the surrounding background.

• For abstract light-painting with no living subject, you can easily push the exposure time to 30 seconds.
• If you’re not shooting with the available background (if you’re going for a pitch black background), go on bulb mode and shoot at f5.6, iso200
• The limit of 13 seconds is what we figured out over the years as the “safe” limit to get a crisp subject (to avoid blur or ghosty effects).

Please notice that this specific technique exists to avoid having to do any composites later on in post-production.

B (Bulb) - 1 to 3 seconds - Light is always on

• The duration of the light-painting is always the same as the exposure time (shutter speed)
• You have to hold the shutter for the whole duration of the exposure
• Ideal for the blue hour, when using sparklers or in cities
• Typical settings are f5.6, iso200, 800 lumens

M (Manual) - 4 to 13 seconds - Light is on only for the light-painting

• The duration of the light-painting is still only 1 to 3 seconds
• Turn on the flashlight only to do the light-painting shape, then turn it off to grab more ambient light (all within the same exposure)
• Ideal for late-night shootings with the stars and the milky-way, or to do stop-motions
• Typical settings are f2.8, iso3200, 100 lumens