Light painting has nothing to do with paints and brushes but is a photographic technique where a source of light is used to illuminate a long exposure shot in a darkened environment. The same result can be achieved by moving the camera in front of a light source. Light painting is largely experimental and can yield some fascinating results when used well.

Photo by YanLing

The gear
Light painting doesn’t require special equipment or gear. With a digital camera, a source of light and a darkened room, you can make intriguing light representations or impressionist images. A tripod can come in handy for the shoot or you can simply place your camera on a solid surface like a table and use the camera timer instead of pressing the click button. You will also need a flash if you want a person or other objects to appear in your frame.

Your digital camera should be one with adjustable shutter speed. Very fast shutter speeds may not yield very good light painting images. The slower the shutter speed, the more effective your images will be.

The source of light could be anything that can be seen in the darkness! So it can be a burning match stick, your mobile phone or flash lights. As you grow in confidence, you can experiment with light sources of different colors. You can also use high end lights like fiber optic lights or laser pens to create interesting captures. Moving the camera instead of the light to photograph moving objects like cars, trains, motorbikes or moving airplanes on a starry dark sky can also produce some amazing results.

The technique and painting
You should invest a good amount of time in setting up your shoot. If you have a tripod, use it to place your digital camera as it helps to keep camera shake to a minimum since the shutter speed is very low. A shutter release cable can also go a long way to avoid camera shake. After setting up the camera in position, set the shutter speed depending on how long you want to paint or depending on what your camera can allow. A shutter speed of one second and above will be sufficient to create meaningful images.

Photo by H Matthew Howarth

Then move on to the ISO and focus settings. The ISO is set to reduce the noise in the images and determines the film speed. Therefore, in light painting, a low ISO will produce better results. Many photographers recommend an ISO setting of 100, but you can play around with different ISO settings to find out what works best for you. The focus should be set to manual since auto focus doesn’t work well in low light conditions.

Once your setup in complete, you can start painting with light. All you need to do is to move the source of light as if you were drawing or painting to create an image you want within the set shutter speed.

Photo by Cindi

Points to remember
If you don’t want to appear in the image, wear dark clothes as they will conceal you more. You can create spectacular images by using just one multi-coloured LED torch instead of many different coloured lights. If you have a single coloured source of light, use color gels on your light source to get a variety of colours in your shots.

	Quick read: Light painting is a photographic technique where a source of light is used to illuminate a long exposure shot in a darkened environment. You need a digital camera, a source of light and a dark environment to paint with light. Effective images are created by setting a lower shutter speed on your digital camera for long exposures. The focus should be set to manual since auto-focus doesn’t work well in low light conditions. If you don’t want to appear in the image, wear dark clothes as they will conceal you more. You can create spectacular images by using just one multi-coloured LED torch instead of many different coloured lights.