Rod Evans has found a new use for his 360 camera, and the results are absolutely stunning.
I feel that an Instagram account full of light paintings would be pretty boring and repetitive. Evan’s goes to great lengths to keep things interesting, and I hope the Fstoppers community enjoys seeing how he does it. Everything here is pretty easy to recreate, and involves being clever with the tools you have.
First, Evans uses a PVC pipe with holes cut out and shines an RGB torch through it. There’s nothing terribly exciting about this idea, but it looks consistent in the light paintings. Of course, you could turn to the likes of Digital Sputnik or PixelStick, but this less elegant solution is just fine. He took inspiration from one particular design, Light Flutes. The holes were drilled through and “to cut the slits, I used a ‘Dremel’ type cutting tool.”
A simple, effective DIY solution.
Secondly, he uses an Insta360 ONE X. It’s a pocket sized camera, but it allows you to shoot raw and long exposures. Evans chooses how the images are displayed in post, between a 360 panorama and the “tiny planet” style: “I usually do these manipulations with desktop software called Insta360 Studio; howeve,r they can also be created using the Insta360 phone app.”
Alternative Ideas
Another shot Evans has played around with is using a cheese grater for reflections: a very creative idea, with unique results. When I asked him about where this creativity comes from, he told me: “I’m also privileged to live on a rural property in Australia, so I have vast fields of open space to play around in. I take every opportunity I can get to whip out the light tools and get creative.”
So if Evans can come up with fresh ideas without high end equipment, so can you! Let us know if you’ve tried similar experiments, or if you’ve pulled off any other interesting 360 shots.
Images used with the permission of Rod Evans.
