Thanks @nineclaws :-)
The newcomer to lightpainting often ends up burning steel wool and not necessarily in a safe manner. There's been a couple of examples I can remember where steel wool set fire to an old wooden house and a shipwreck burnt to a crisp. These incidents tend to bring light painters in to disrepute but the "real" lightpainters are maybe more careful. I certainly am!
For the lens swaps it's best to use manual lenses noting aperture and focus point on the body of the lens. The lens swap has to be done in complete darkness so as to avoid polluting the image sensor with stray light. It takes some planning and practice but with a little rehearsal it's easy enough.
For the tripod swaps, it's necessary to plan in advance. You set up the 2nd part of the shot 1st. And the 1st part 2nd! I use the same Manfrotto tripod heads so there's not too much fiddling around in the dark. The process involves shooting one element of the image and replacing the lens cap but without ending the exposure. You then transfer the camera to the other pre-arranged tripod and shoot the 2nd part of your image. The tripod swap can also be combined with lens swaps too.
One of these days I will get around to making a YouTube video to demo the process but life is too short lol
You're welcome, really loving what all of you are creating and posting.
I can see how newcomers could have issues with using fire and holy crap, burning down structures, yikes! I've had a longstanding habit of burning myself without meaning to, just with ordinary things in day to day life (second and third degree burns), which has made me super cautious about all things burny, especially fire. I wouldn't even attempt lightpainting with steel wool on fire, and especially magnesium! Another reason that I love seeing what you're creating here.
Thanks so much for the detailed explanation about lens and tripod swapping. That's just what I needed to get an image of how you do each. Now I'm thinking about all the equipment lugging, lol.