Light Painting Photography: Not Just For Experts Anymore
Ever wonder how photographers create beautiful patterns with glowing light in their photographs? Light painting doesn’t require fancy equipment. An entry-level photographer can create beautiful pictures using a handful of tools and basic knowledge about camera settings.
What is Light Painting?
Light painting involves using a light source as a brush and a dark background as the canvas. The artist of artistic light photographs is the photographer. They create patterns of light by moving the chosen source of light within the frame of their camera. You can do it in a dark room or outside using the stars for the background. This technique allows you to practice extended exposure techniques and add creativity to your photography.
What do you need to paint with light?
You can light paint photos with a digital camera and a tripod. It is essential to be able to manually set the ISO, aperture, shutter time, exposure, and shutter speed on your digital camera. Because you’ll be shooting in darkness, each of these settings will need to be set manually. Light painting requires that the exposure time belong to capture light movement.
Light Painting Steps
Camera and tripod – Securely place your camera on the tripod after you have chosen the background (darkroom, outside). Once you’ve decided where the light source will be used, mark it with something to indicate that you will be shining the light source and moving within the frame of the camera. You will need to use the manual self-timer feature on your camera if you don’t have a shutter release cable.
Setting the Camera – Manually set your digital camera to the lowest ISO value. Good results can be achieved with an ISO between 100 and 200. To achieve a greater depth of field and more freedom to move with your light source, the aperture should be smaller. You will need to expose for approximately 30 seconds. However, you can play with all settings, so they are most appropriate for the environment.
Light Sources – You can use any light source to express your creativity. These are some of the most common light sources:
Flashlight/Maglite
LED light
Laser light
Fiber Optic Light
Poi Balls of Burning Steel Wool
Matches
Sparklers or Fireworks
Candles
Light painting is all about experimenting with different light sources to achieve the desired effects. You must follow safety precautions when using open flame sources to ensure that you, your assistants, and your equipment are safe.
Your Work of Art – Stand on the spot you have marked in the frame and move the light source like a paintbrush onto your canvas. It’s fun to experiment with different light sources and movements. You can also see the various effects it can have on your photos.
RAW Photographs for Post Processing Light Painting Photography. RAW photos are a great way to enhance and edit your light painting photos. Natural photographs are the original, unprocessed photos you took. The originals can be improved without looking grainy.
It’s easy, and you don’t need to be an expert photographer. It is easy to add incredible effects to your photos with light painting photography. There is no need for expensive equipment. All you need is a camera and a basic understanding of camera settings: a tripod, light source, and your creativity.
