Light Painting

Light painting is a popular technique which is not only fun but produces some interesting photos. Ideally, in order to paint with light, you need light and dark, a tripod, a remote shutter release, and some ideas!

I’ll work through these one at a time …

Light: to paint in the dark, you will need a selection of torches. Wide beam torches can light larger areas, such as a wall. Medium beams are useful for lighting faces. Narrow beams can be used to draw outlines around objects, or to create text.

Dark: the best effects will be achieved in a dark environment. The camera shutter will be left open for a while during the painting so the darker the better.

Tripod: the camera should be as still as possible during the photography so a tripod is best.

Remote shutter release: as with the tripod, the remote release will help maintain stability. As it is dark, it is easiest to light part of the picture initially so that the camera can focus when you half push the shutter button. Keeping the shutter button half pressed, turn the light off and proceed to press the shutter button the whole way. This can be done using a cable release as well as directly using the shutter button.

Ideas: these really are up to you!

To begin with, I decided to try some writing with light.

I created the following image during the daytime in my garage. I used a tripod and a cable shutter release to keep the camera as still as possible and I selected shutter speed priority, setting the time to 30 seconds. Having released the shutter, I ran into the picture and began painting. I used two laser pointers to write with and switched them off when not using them. I was pleased with the end result – the darkness is effective even though the garage wasn’t completely dark, and the message is clear to read.

For the next image, I decided to try something more adventurous. I wanted to light my face in the picture but to make it seem as though there was more than one of me in the image. Before beginning, I made small chalk marks on the wall so I knew roughly where to stand during the shot. The basic set up was the same as for the text in the image above, the shutter was again open for 30 seconds. Having opened the shutter, I ran into the image and proceeded to stand at each of the three positions for around 7 seconds each. At every point I lit my face from below with a medium beam torch. I kept the torch moving slightly so as to catch as much of my face as possible when it was on and turned the torch off when I moved from one position to the next.

I then decided to try something else. Using the same basic set up as for the previous two images and again, marking on the wall where I wanted to position myself, I ran into the frame after opening the shutter. This time, I lit my face for around 8 seconds. Turning the torch off, I positioned my hand roughly where I thought my eye would have been for the first part of the image, and again shone the torch for around 8 seconds. I was very pleased with the end result which has created a creepy image without any editing after taking the photograph.

The next image was created during a night time shoot in a local churchyard (with permission from the vicar). As always, I used a tripod, a cable shutter release, and set the mode to shutter priority, using a 30 second exposure. I ran into the shot and used a medium beam torch to paint around some of the grave stones. Although I was in the picture painting, my dark clothing helped to ensure that I did not appear in the final image.

For this final image, I decided to use the manual mode so that I could leave the shutter open for longer and paint more of the stones. As before, I lit part of the scene first so that I could get the focus in order to open the shutter. I turned the torch off, opened the shutter completely and ran into the scene to paint with my medium beam torch.

Having finished painting a few stones, I returned to the camera and used the cable release to close the shutter (being careful not to jog the tripod in doing so). The shutter had been open for 116 seconds for this picture and although this was almost four times as long as for the other images, you still cannot see me moving between the stones. The end result is effective but if I recreated it, I would be more careful over painting around the entire stone. The one which I have in mind particularly is the front left cross, which could do with a little more light on the top left.

I find light painting a therapeutic way of using creativity to create interesting pictures. It's also nice to produce unusual pictures without editing them after taking. I'll certainly try some more, in particular the multiple faces and creating words and shapes with light.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and have fun with your own light painting!