Step-by-Step: Light Painting a Desert Tow Truck With Star Trails

I wanted to photograph and light paint a super-long exposure of a vintage tow truck with long star trails, but I also needed to do this quickly so I could continue teaching workshop participants. How did I do this? I’ll take you behind the scenes of my desert ghost town long-exposure photo.

"I Need To Create a 90-Minute Photograph in Ten Minutes"

I was teaching a night photography workshop in Nelson Ghost Town, NV with Tim Little, and had just finished a hands-on lesson with a group on how to photograph the large barn. This was our second night doing the workshop, and the participants were growing very comfortable with their night photography skills. Consequently, I took a ten-minute break so I could photograph this vintage tow truck.

The tow truck was long and magnificent—an unusual-looking vehicle. Photographing the side seemed like a great place to begin. It’d look good, and since it was at the end of the property, there would be less chance of getting inadvertent lights from other workshop participants. Perhaps on subsequent visits, I would photograph the tow truck from other angles.

Light Painting the Tow Truck

It was a dark night with no moon. Consequently, the truck would have come out almost completely dark. Time to do some light painting—adding the light during the long exposure with a handheld flashlight. Time for some fun.

Step One: Light Painting the Side of the Truck

To pick up all that amazing texture, I skimmed the light at a shallow angle from camera left using a warm white light while standing in front of the truck. You can see a lot of the shadows from the wheel well. There were also pronounced shadows behind the cab where the light couldn’t reach.

Step Two: Illuminating the Interior of the Cab

I thought I would add a teal color to the interior of the cab. I walked behind the cab, stuck my hand through the open passenger-side window, and twisted the light so that it would evenly light the interior. I bounced the light off the sides and floor so the reflected light would rise and illuminate the window frame and ceiling evenly.

I’ll explain why I remain invisible while walking through the photo in a minute.

Step Three: Illuminating the Crane

In my test photo, I noticed that I wasn’t really getting very much light on the crane, or boom, of the tow truck. To address this during my first attempt, I had to move to camera right, behind the tow truck, and illuminate it from that angle. This would allow us to see not only the crane, but also some of the chain and associated hardware, which was dark and rusty and not showing up very well before. I also used a warm white light for this.

After reviewing my first try, I was satisfied.

Before we continue, I’ll explain how I was able to walk through my photo without showing up in the photo, and what light painting exactly is.

How Do You Stay Invisible in Your Photo?

It's an amazing superpower that all night photographers have: the ability to turn invisible! Keep moving, and you won’t show up in your long exposure photo. Incredible, eh? If you remain still for roughly ten percent of the total exposure, you begin “registering” in the photo. So yes, just keep moving, and block that light from shining into the camera (or on you).

What on Earth Is Light Painting?

“Light painting” is illuminating a subject during a long exposure using a handheld light. Your flashlight is the brush, and the scene is your canvas.

Why do I love handheld light painting? Because it’s fast, flexible, creative, and ridiculously fun. No need for light stands, no heavy gear—it’s just you and your light shaping the scene.

Light painting is one of my favorite aspects of night photography. It remains one of the most creative and expressive techniques I know. And while it’s not the most popular photographic subject, I keep writing about it because I hope it inspires other people to try it—and because it’s brought me so much joy.

Setting Up the Camera for Star Trails

I wanted to quickly return to helping the night photography workshop participants. I already had created my foreground photo using the light painting. I simply used the same setting, a three-minute exposure at f/8 and ISO 400, then set up the intervalometer so that it would trigger the camera indefinitely for the same exposure so the skies would match. Then I left the camera there to do its thing while I walked away to help others. Click. Click. Click. I’d stop the sequence when I had a chance. As it turned out, that was the time that we had to leave, almost an hour and a half later.

Processing Star Trails

If you want to know more about how to process star trails in Photoshop, check out this article.

Light Used for Light Painting

I use a ProtoMachines LED2, which is unfortunately discontinued. We are hoping that ProtoMachines releases new products. 

You may also use other LED flashlights, such as the Wurkkos FC11C, which has a pleasing warm white light (but doesn't have any other colors). Or you could use other lights that produce color, such as the Ants on a Melon RGB Critter BT, which is capable of producing an infinite amount of colors and is controlled via a phone app.

Camera Equipment

I used an old Pentax K-1 DSLR with a Pentax 15-30mm f/2.8 lens for this photo. However, you can create this with just about any modern mirrorless or DSLR camera with manual controls. 

And as you can see, I used an f-stop of f/8, so for star trails and light painting photos like this, you don’t even need a particularly “fast” (large aperture) lens. Many people think that you need a super wide-aperture lens for all types of night photography. But for photos such as star trails, full moon night photography, or other kinds of night photography, it’s not essential.

My Most Fervent Wishes

I hope that articles like this will inspire you to go out and do night photography. Try light painting. Try star trails. Try both. It’s a magical thing to create photographs in the dark with nothing but time and a beam of light.