Light Painting a 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85
We’re pleased to share another cool light painting with you! This time it’s the light painting of a 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85 created as part of Josh’s senior portraits.
This cool project was part of a “double” light painting evening. But before all of the light painting, we also created some sweet daylight senior photos of Josh not only with the Cutlass but also with a really cool 1950 Dodge B2C pickup truck too!
Yes, we light painted the Dodge truck too!
Josh, with uncle Mark’s cool 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85.
Yes, Josh has now had two light paintings created as part of his senior photos. What a lucky guy!
Click on this link to check out the story and images about Josh’s amazing light painting of the 1950 Dodge B2C pickup truck. Josh assisted me in creating both of his light paintings. I think he had a lot of fun helping me.
Josh’s cool senior portrait light painting with the 1950 Dodge B2C pickup.
It should also be mentioned that Josh’s mom, Josie, his aunt Carrie, and his cousin Lizzy were all instrumental in both of these light painting projects as well. Thanks, girls!
Senior Photos on Lake Superior
As if that’s not cool enough, less than two weeks earlier, Josh and his parents, Andy & Josie, joined us up on the North Shore of Lake Superior to create his “regular” senior portraits! It was so much fun to have them up north with us. Those images also tuned out really great!
A very nice senior portrait of Josh at Split Rock Lighthouse.
As soon as we returned from our North Shore Weekend, we set up the light painting date. We timed it very well too. That evening had very pleasant temperatures, not too many bugs, and a full moon to boot!
With Josh having his senior portraits created on the North Shore, and then a pair of light paintings, Josh has officially won the senior photo trifecta!
A Word About The Cutlass
Prior to Joshs’ uncle, Mark, owning the car, this 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85 spent a short time of its life as a drag car, competing in bracket racing. Bracket racing is a form of drag racing that allows for a handicap between the predicted elapsed time of the two cars over a standard distance, typically within the three standard distances of drag racing (1/8 mile, 1,000 foot, or 1/4 mile).
The Oldsmobile before Josh and I light painted it.
Once Mark took ownership of the car, he installed a 455 cubic inch engine along with a 4-speed automatic transmission in it. It’s painted in a pretty Mystic Teal Metallic.
1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass F-85 Light Painting
After a brief test drive, Josh parked the Cutlass on a dirt road alongside a split-rail fence and we waited for it to get dark. A short time earlier, we had placed the Dodge truck about 100 yards away to get it ready for its light painting.
Since the Cutlass was more “in-the-woods”, it would get dark there sooner, so we light painted it first. As I mentioned, Josh was my “Trigger Man”. He fired the camera with my iPad while showing me the results of each lighting pass. He caught on to what I was trying to achieve real quick!
For his part of being in his light painted photograph, both Lizzy and Josie helped me out. They each hand-held a couple of my strobe lights aiming them where we need light on Josh. It really made Josh stand out better in his cool senior portrait. As you can see in the final image below, they did a fantastic job! Thank you, ladies!
Josh, and the 66 Oldsmobile.
The Movie
I’ve put together a very short “build video” on our YouTube Channel. It has the images that I used to create Josh’s light painting and then the whole thing comes together. All in about one minute! That’s pretty darn fast since the whole project actually took about eight hours from start to finish.
Thank you for reading our post and have a great one! – M&J