The Batmobile
Up next, we’ve got a light painting of perhaps the coolest vehicle ever created – The Batmobile! (We’re going to have some fun with the writing of this light painting story!)
Yes, Joannie and I are now friends with Batman! We met him through two friends of ours, Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon. 😉
Here’s our camera setup for the whole Batmobile light painting. Our iPad Pro shows what the camera was capturing.
We’ve done a couple of really amazing light painting projects for Commissioner Gordon over the last couple of years. He knew how much I would like to light paint the Batmobile and was kind enough to introduce me to Mr. Wayne. It turns out that Bruce knows Batman personally! How cool is that?! 😉
Then, last September, Bruce met me at a secret location so I could see the Batmobile in person. What an awesome experience that was! I also got to see some other amazing vehicles that Batman has in his collection. So sweet!
Light Painting the Batcave
I happened upon the Batcave last year when I was traveling in Missouri. Darin & Krista had me light paint their 2019 C7 Corvette Grand Sport there. Darin liked to call that amazing car his “Batmobile”.
Well, Darin and Krista also happened to know Batman and got his permission to use the Batcave as the backdrop for their project. We light-painted their stunning Corvette right in front of it. The link to check out that cool project is below:
Light Painting a 2019 C7 Corvette “Watkins Glen Grey” Grand Sport in front of the Batcave
So, upon completion of their amazing Corvette light painting in front of the Batcave, I had them pull the Vette away so that I could light paint the scene without the car. We did that so that we could give a print of the cave all by itself to Batman as a thank you for allowing us to use the Batcave for their light painting.
Here’s what the interior looks like from Batman’s side of the Batmobile.
The side-benefit of now having the Batcave light painted all by itself would be that I could place other vehicles in that scene down the road. I mean, what a cool background!
Well, one year later, Bruce told us that Batman loved the Batcave photograph so much that he wanted to have the Batmobile light painted. He was going to be near us in Minnesota, and he wondered if we could light paint the car for him? I’m pretty sure you know what my answer was! – “Oh, yeah!”
Since the Batmobile wasn’t going to be anywhere near the Batcave, Batman wondered if we could do our magic and have the car placed in front of the Batcave once the project was complete. I told him that I would do that for him.
Light Painting The Batmobile
Joannie and I met up with Bruce, and he led us to a quiet cul-de-sac in a nice neighborhood in Gotham City. Batman had disabled all of the safety protocols so that Bruce could drive the Batmobile to the location. Bruce had found a great spot for the project. It was dark, very quiet, and, as it turns out, pretty darn safe too (more on that shortly).
Since this was such a cool opportunity, we brought 3 cameras and 3 tripods so that we could create three unique light paintings of this epic crime-fighting car!
Here’s our camera setup for the Batmobile’s front-end light painting.
Here’s our camera setup for the Batmobile’s rear-end light painting.
We would create one version of the whole car. That would be the one to be relocated in front of the Batcave (although, as you can see in the image below, that light painting is pretty cool too!). Then, I set up for straight-on light paintings of both the front and rear ends of the iconic crime-fighting car.
One of the coolest cars ever built – the one-and-only Batmobile!
We will share those two light paintings in the days ahead. Stay tuned to this same Bat Channel for those in the coming days!
Other Crime Fighters Stop By
We were well underway with the first light painting of the whole Batmobile when a car approached us. Since we were in such a remote area, I hoped we weren’t getting a visit from some bad guys. Well, thankfully, it was just the opposite! The Gotham City Police received a report of strange sounds and lights in the neighborhood.
The two officers were very nice (I wish I could remember their names). We explained what we were doing, and they hung around to actually watch us demo a few lighting passes on the Batmobile. Then, they went to the neighbors who had made the report to let them know everything was ok. The next thing we know, they came over to take a look, too!
I wish I could remember their names as well. The couple was very interested in what we were doing (and very glad we weren’t up to no good). They stayed for quite a while and watched us light paint the Batmobile, right there, a few hundred feet from their home. We even took cell phone photos of them with the car using my light painting wand to put some light on them (it was very dark out at that time)! It was actually quite a fun experience for all of us!
It’s A Small World After All
One funny side note here is that while I was showing some of our finished light paintings to the officers, I shared a completed light painting of a Dodge Charger Police Interceptor so they could see what a finished light painting looked like.
A really cool light painting of the Robbinsdale Chief of Police and a Dodge Charger Police Interceptor.
I created that cool project for the Robbinsdale Police Department when my friend Jim Franzen retired as the Police Chief a few years ago. Well, lo and behold, one of the officers told us that Jim hired him for his very first job as a new officer in Robbinsdale! Too funny!
The Batmobile “Build Video”
The amazing Batmobile is sitting in front of the Batcave.
As always, we’ve created a short video for our YouTube channel that begins with the images that we used to create the Batmobile’s light painting. It concludes with the “build”, one layer at a time, until the Master File is complete.
For this “whole car” version, we took 123 images, and I used 41 of those, in 75 unique layers, to create the final artwork. The light painting of the Batcave was created last year using 44 images.
The final image in the Build Video is the Batmobile in front of the Batcave! The link to view the process is below:
The other two Batmobile versions (front & rear) should be ready in a week or so. Please return to this Bat Channel to check them out soon!
There’s a Whole Lot More!
If you are enjoying this amazing light painting project, please take a look at our dedicated Light Painting Photography Website at www.MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com
There, you will find light-painted photographs of cars, trucks, motorcycles, buildings, aircraft, and a whole lot more! In the meantime, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read our story! – M&J