Professionals involved in laser photography normally use thousands of dollars in sophisticated cameras and lighting equipment to achieve stunning laser photographs. This equipment is great to have and useful but for all but the highest quality work, it is not necessary. Outlined below is a simple list of the basic equipment needed for laser photography.
1 – Laser
The most important item of equipment is a laser. Laser modules that can be used continuously and are hands free are ideal and portable lasers such as laser pointers are also good. The power of the laser is not important and any power level over 1 to 2mW will be enough. The color of the laser is also not important and mainly a matter of personal preference. Blue lasers are popular for their beautiful beams.
2 – Camera
You can use any camera as long as it has an adjustable ISO (sensitivity to light) and shutter speed.
3 – Tripod
To keep the camera steady and avoid blur in the photos.
4 – Dark/dimly lit room or dimly lit out door setting
Different types of laser photography require different approaches, camera settings and techniques. I’ve listed below the main types of laser photography and how take photos for each.
Laser writing and drawing
This kind of laser photography is the easiest and can be done properly with minimal difficulty .
An ISO of 100 to 200 will work best in most situations and set the shutter speed to at least 4 seconds. The best shutter speed will depend on how much time you need to write or draw.
For best effect and to avoid problems such as shadows, keep the laser beam parallel to the camera. The easiest way is to stand just behind the camera with the laser.
Outdoor beam photography
The one trick to out door beam shots is that you should not take them in dark setting. The laser beam will be very bright and clear but there will be just a pitch black background that provides no contrast or perspective. A dimly lit setting such as a road at night lit by street lights is ideal.
Use a standard shutter speed and an ISO of at least 200.
Moving beams and background/people
This is the hardest type of laser photography to do yet can produce great shots in nightclubs and raves. One trick and some simple settings are all that’s necessary to do this type of laser photography properly.
ISO should be set at a level where you can clearly see the beam, a shutter speed of 1/50 is normally long and the lens aperture should be set as wide as possible. You do not want ISO to be too high or there will be too much noise in the photo.
The trick with this kind of photography is the flash comes after the exposure not before. That way the laser beam is captured with out being over powered by flash but the flash will still freeze/capture the motion of the people.
Now it is time to pull out your cameras, charge up your lasers and take some great photographs.
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Frank is from Dragonlasers – No 1 for Laser Modules, Portable Lasers & Laser Safety Glasses.
