Light Painting a 2016 Mercedes Benz C300
Just recently, I had the pleasure of creating a cool father-son light painting of Ted and Nate with the family’s 2016 Mercedes Benz C300. This light painting project was pretty much all my idea (the light painting part anyway). I suggested the idea to them while we were creating Nate’s senior portraits, as well as their family portraits, up on Lake Superior last fall.
Nate, near the ore docks in Two Harbors.
While we were walking around up north, Nate mentioned that he wanted some photographs with the 2016 Mercedes Benz C300 when we got back home. I (of course) immediately thought that we should light paint it! Nate was thinking that we should create a kind of James Bond look with the car. And, I really think that by light painting it, we did achieve that look for him! In Dad’s portrait with the car, I even changed the license plate to “Mr. Bond”! For Nate, since this was created as a senior portrait, the plates say “SR 2023”.
Not The First Time
For Nate and Ted, this was certainly not the first time they had been involved as part of my light painting team. Nope, these guys are now experts! A short time after we got back from Lake Superior, we paid a visit to the football field at Totino Grace High School in Fridley, Minnesota. It was there, right on the 50-yard line that we created some really cool light painted photographs of Nate and his rather extensive drum set!
As a side note, Nate can really play those drums!
The image that Nate and I visualized while we were up on Lake Superior.
One of Nate’s cool light painted senior portraits created on the 50-yard line at Totino Grace High School.
Not that Nate and his drums were easy to light paint, because they were not, but this time we were talking about light painting a car. Not just any car, but a black 2016 Mercedes Benz C300! Black vehicles are by far, the most difficult to light paint to bring out the details. The light just seems to get “sucked in” to the paint! Thankfully, I’ve done a few of these challenging colored cars and can handle it. It’s not easy, but I’m up to the challenge.
Light Painting a 2016 Mercedes Benz C300
It was Prom Week for Nate, so I arrived early and Ted and I drove a short distance away to an area in Coon Rapids, Minnesota that might work as a backdrop for this light painting project. It didn’t take long and we found a nice wooded area near the archery range to place the car. I took Ted back to their house and asked them to return to that spot in about a half hour while I returned to start setting up my gear.
All set up and waiting to be light painted.
Once I had everything ready, gear-wise, we did some test shots to determine the right look for the car’s placement and camera angle. Then, we just waited for it to get dark enough to light paint. The portraits of Dad and Nate were first up. Once we had those taken and were happy with them, Nate returned home. It was a school night during Prom Week after all!
By the way, Nate would be driving the Mercedes Benz C300 on his Prom night. That’s a pretty sweet ride for Prom!
Once it got darker, Ted and I light painted everything in sight. And other than the oversight (by me) of the nearby street light, everything went pretty smoothly. It wasn’t an early night, but it was a really productive one! Here are our completed light paintings, all three versions!
This completed light painting of the Mercedes Benz C300.
Good evening, Mr. Bond!
Our senior, and the Mercedes Benz. Congratulations on your senior year, Nate!
2016 Mercedes Benz C300 – The Movie
Here’s the link to a short video that shows some of the images that we light painted and the steps taken in post-production to bring it all together. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read our past and have a great one! – M&J