Learning Light Painting

by abduzeedo | May 01, 2008

abduzeedo's blog

We have published some articles about Light Painting, and in this post we will share some basic information about this technique. We will talk about the tools, the camera settings, the light and the technique. Also, we want to say thank you very much to Christopher Hibbert, the author of this article.

Light painting, also known as light drawing is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a light source or by moving the camera. Wikipedia.org

1. The tools

Besides your camera you will need a tripod and a torch (or any other kind of light you can handle and move). Why a tripod? Because you will choose a shutter speed slow enough to do your drawing. In my case, it usually takes me 20 to 30 seconds to create the scene.

I recommend using a remote control which gives the option to lock the shutter in bulb mode. Like that, you have all the time you need to be creative! I use the Nikon MC-30 with my Nikon camera and it works well.

2. Light

All kind of lights can be used. Don't worry about your sensor, it won't be damaged if you point the torch (laser etc) directly on it while you shoot.

I use a little light also used as a key chain. It s powerful enough to draw the characters and can be turned on/off just by pressing a button.

3. Camera settings

Shutter speed: As long as you need to create the scene.
ISO: I usually put it on 100 so I can set the shutter speed on a very slow value and I don t get any noise on my photographs.
Aperture: Set it doing a test shot without drawings, focusing on an element close to what you are going to draw.
Flash: Can be used to fix a person or a moving element in the scene.
White balance: Set it doing a test shot. Street lighting is usually yellow.
Focus: Obviously on manual if there is not enough light.

4. Tips

Light is your friend, you could use moving lights from cars etc.. for exemple, I did one while a train was passing under a bridge.
Wear dark clothes if you want to lower the chance of being visible on the photograph.

Light painting is about light, creativity and fun!

Some examples

About the Author:

Christopher Hibbert

Born on the 12th of november 1983, freelance photographer since 2006, I have been working exclusively with Nikon equipment.
Concerts, private parties, weddings, sports events, books and portraits .. I do shoot all kind of events. Versatile, I adapt to the situation in order to take the best pictures.

For more information about Christopher's work visit his website at http://www.christopher-hibbert.com/

About the author

My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.

Artsteez 05/01/2008

cool stuff, always fun to mess with this stuff.

Razvan 05/01/2008

Awesome, I must try this with my Lumix! :)

ffselecta 05/01/2008

One of my light paintings. Its really tough to write backwards and upside down...
http://flickr.com/photos/ffselecta/1018875554/

A Working Class Hero 05/01/2008

Painting light is good, but I think that make a video with this technique must to be really great. However, I don't now exactly how can I do it. Someone know? Maybe in a next tutorial? I wish...

Anonymous 05/02/2008

>One of my light paintings. Its really tough to write backwards and upside down...

You can just write it normal and flip it in Photoshop you know....

Kenji 05/02/2008

Wow, that's awesome. The ones sitting down are so well done. It's great that you can't see any motion blur of the person holding the light.

Christopher 05/02/2008

Thank you very much ! The article look great on abduzeedo ! I am so happy you gave me the opportunity to share some technique and tips with this community ^^

rassel 05/02/2008

hi,
look great!
but how do you get rid of yourself in post? rotoing and cloning?
rassel

tdub 05/02/2008

awesome tips. just started light painting and it is totally addictive.

here is a flickr group I started dedicated to the art.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lightjunkies/

and a stop motion film i made from light graffiti pics.

I encourage all to try this. you will see how fun and addictive it is. I am only working with a Canon G7 with a max exposure of 15secs but can still get some interesting results.

cheers,
tdub

Scarlett 05/02/2008

Great stuff!

But if you leave it the shutter on for so long is there not a risk of over exposure? But nevertheless, can't wait to try it with my D50 :)

Phodana 05/02/2008

Looks interesting, very cool...

Anonymous 05/02/2008

i ahve done this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/2438973037/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/2439796542/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/2438971709/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/2381401684/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexanderblacker/2380561231/

But i must say that your "painting" skills are better then mine

Anonymous 05/03/2008

amazing! thanks for another great inspiration,
now i got a reason to buy tripod for my nikon

cheers from philippines.

Maurits 05/05/2008

Well done! Looks pretty cool to me!

Braintrove.com 05/05/2008

Great stuff!

alex 05/06/2008

IF YOUR INTRESTED IN A VIDEO TUTORIAL HERE IS A LINK:

http://blackerphotography.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html#783921499...

jojo 05/07/2008

here is mine taken with with my nikon d40. cheers
spirits.jpg

Boreale 05/08/2008

I don't understand how the drawer can be invisible. Who is drawing ? Has the drawer been erased ???

liudger 05/27/2008

In this clip there are some cool light animations.
Have a look!

erving 05/30/2008

que buenas fotos
www.flickr.com/photos/freeimagination
www.flickr.com/photos/freeimagination
www.flickr.com/photos/freeimagination
www.flickr.com/photos/freeimagination

ardhian.satrya 06/27/2008

@ Liudger : Nice light painting on the video, but the walking giant elephant is quite more amazing for me :p

thanks for the post :)

Andreas 08/13/2008

Nice post. I definitely have to try it.

nuno Matox 09/08/2008

i utilise light painting in videos, but it’s a little bit more complicated for the motion...
please share your experiences !!!

http://matos.art.free.fr/lightgraff_video_lightgraffiti.html

http://www.matox.fr

tehRocketman 10/08/2008

For everyone asking how you get rid of people in the shot, you don't. Because it's such a long shutter speed and usually in the dark, only the static objects (because they don't move and are constantly reflecting light, like the bench) and bright lights show up. In one of his pictures you can faintly see the guy who was drawing, because he was stood in the same place for a while, have a go and you'll see, it's tons of fun ^^

oyunlar 10/14/2008

Thank You very nice topic

matox 12/09/2008

hi, i have posted new video about live lightpainting using slow shutter web cams
you can see it in my site, i can answer in any question for tips

http://www.matox.fr

cicicocuk 12/25/2008

Nice work ,great collection. Thanks for the share.

zplits 01/04/2009

WOW! amazing, creative being. thanks for the share. :)

amy 03/05/2009

How do you do light painting in a bright room like in the example above? and if that was a dark room when they did it how come there's hardly any noise? same with the very first pic.

Anonymous 05/13/2009

Thank you very much ! The article look great on abduzeedo ! I am so happy you gave me the opportunity to share some technique and tips with this community ^^

Mr. Curious 06/04/2009

Hey guys,
I love light painting, though i'm still a novice. I know the basics, but i was wondering if any of you could tell me how they make movies like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcPp7hXmyl4&feature=related

Do they use multiple images and then combine them to give a video or is there a way of making a light painting movie? I'm really curious and i would appreciate it if any of you good answer my question.
Thanks,
Cheers,
Mr. Curious