Making art with 3 euros LED lights (again!)

For this picture, I will write about the whole process of creation : from the basic idea, to the picture right above (for those interested only in the making-of, don’t hesitate to scroll down!) 

1 – Looking for an idea

As you may already know, I have a real visual relationship with the music I am listening to. During a concert (but most of the time just laying on my floor) I am often starting to visualize stuff, like in a dream, I let the music create a whole universe in my mind. I don’t do it often, but if I am looking for inspiration to create new pictures, this is 85% of the time, how I would proceed to find inspiration! (favorite song for inspiration : Space oddity – David Bowie <3 )  

This is basically what happened there, the only difference was it is a commissioned work: The guys from Wyve need a new artwork for the releasing of their album! Of course, having a picture I created on a CD is a child’s dream, but this is also a huge honor to be the bone that is going to represent their music. (but also A LOT OF PRESSURE). I put myself into « looking for ideas » mode, exactly as I described above. I was listening to their album all the time, and particularly one song « birth » that is also the name of the album. 

 I sketched more than a dozen ideas, to be able to bring them different choices. When I am looking for ideas, I try not to get influenced by how-am-I-going-to-do-this? thoughts : the technical questions have to come after so it won’t interfere with the creative process.

So, once I have my sketches, I am like « but now, how? »

2 –  Find a way to make this real

I was imagining the light coming through someone’s eyes, he is covering his face, and the light seems to come from his own body. I am imagining the fingers, getting a bit transparent and red, and the rays of light going through the darkness. Technically speaking, it eliminates straight away the speed lights, because they can’t be hidden in his hands. For the place, it’s going to be easy, just a dark room.

 Cool, but how do I do it?

I’ve thought about it a lot and I remembered I had already seen similar things with light up eyes in movies (like in Midnight Special for example). However, I guess they probably used big special effects and CGI as they usually do in Hollywood (and probably with After Effects), but I don’t really have 10,000 dollars to create my picture. So the other solution I found was to call my buddy Maxime, he’s a Light Engineer and he works in a Theater. He’s the guy you wanna know when you’re looking for a solution that includes light! Well, also when you need Mojitos! Apparently, I need Mojitos more often. Anyway, he told me about mini LEDs Light that could work. I took a look but did not really like the price so I looked for something else! (but it’s still good to know)

I went to ACTION (if you don’t know this store, it’s basically the BEST store in the world, where nothing’s expensive), and I started my quest. I got back home with two frontal LED lights (3 euros each), and LED fairy lights, because it’s pretty and can always be useful.

I took a bit of time to take to pieces the frontal lights, in order to only keep the LED system and the batteries (next time I go to ACTION, I’ll buy a tiny screwdriver for electronic devices) but a good pliers and 20 minutes were enough this time. The first test is pretty convincing, I can tape the thing in my hands and it’s not noticeable. Regarding the power of the light, it’s not that great, but you really have to test it to be sure.

3 – The shooting! 

I take advantage of the opportunity to have Maxoo around to test it and I’m not satisfied…the light is too white as well. So we take the LED fairy lights to tape it in his hands. The batteries are taped to his forearms, to be honest he kinda looks like a lousy super hero, or a robot in a B series movie! The result is nicer and the light more powerful, so we try to take a few pictures like this. He can’t really move that much, because everything falls, and I try to hide the cables the best I can so I won’t have a lot of Photoshop afterwards.

I realize that the idea of the eyes is not that great and that the result is way better when he puts his hands close to his body, that’s cool, I’m happy with my picture and I start to edit it!

An overview of the images without retouching, straight from the camera

I edit it, and as I think about it, I realize that something’s missing and that the image could be richer. I decide to add particles, like a sky full of stars, in order to add meaning and depth to the picture. For the particles, I did not know how to do it so I looked up on Youtube. PHLEARN, (a photographer who gives Photoshop lessons) gives me the answer. It’s in English and if you need to make progress in Photoshop, they’re the best Free lessons on the Internet.

 Here’s my approach overall. In the end, it’s longer to find the idea for a picture and the solution to make it, than to actually make it!