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light painting; creative with light

Readers who are familiar with my type of photography know that I enjoy experimenting with creative techniques. Slow shutter speeds, flashes, multiple exposures and the use of tools have always interested me. Lightpainting has been part of that for some time now!

Now light painting is an older technique that has been used for a long time, especially in night photography. During a long exposure, often to highlight the milky way and stars, part of the environment is illuminated by the light of a flashlight, for example. Nothing new under the sun you would think.

Light painting in Quiver tree forest - Namibia 2013
Light painting in Quiver tree forest - Namibia 2013

Light drawing instead of light painting

The correct name should actually be light drawing; drawing shapes in the air with all kinds of tools such as stars, flashlights, LED lamps, the Pixelstick and/or Magilight. There are countless resources you can use, ranging from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. This makes this form of photography easily accessible to a large audience.

There are many different ways in which you can express your creativity in light painting. One wants bright lights, the other a dark background to emphasize the night, etc, etc.
In my images I look for the right balance between the environment, the model, your composition and especially your design and lighting. Images in which the environment is an explicit part of your image appeal to me the most.

The technique of light painting

When light painting you move a luminous object through your image for a few seconds. Your sensor picks up that light and reflects it in your final photo.
You understand that we immediately run into a number of variables:

  • What shutter speed do we have?
  • How fast are you moving?
  • Which ISO value do I set?
  • What light intensity of my lamp do I have?
  • Which diaphragm fits?

Because I personally shoot images that I want to be in harmony with the ambient light as much as possible, this means that I am constantly adjusting my variables. ISO, light intensity of the lamp and shutter speed have no fixed value and are determined by, among other things, my speed and the exposure I want in the environment.

You will notice that after a few times of practice you have a number of starting values with which you can vary later.
For example, I often start at ISO 400, f5 and a second or 3 to 4. As it gets darker or I adjust my lamp, I have to adjust these values.
For light painting with a starry sky above my model, I work with shutter speeds of up to 20 seconds…
So try and practice! For the basic techniques I regularly teach educational and inspiring workshops.

The equipment for Lightpainting

Hopefully, after seeing these images, you will want to get started with lightpainting yourself. Now these images are made with relatively affordable tools (which are all present during the workshops, of course)

  • A tripod (we already have one of course…… 😉 )
  • A wireless shutter that works on the bulb setting of your camera (Yonhnuo RF-603II ± € 38.00)
  • A TL lamp T8 protective cover (€ 10.00)
  • A flashlight with strobe and different light intensities (Thorfire VG-15S ± € 15.00)

As you can see, little is needed to get started with the creativity of light painting. I wish you a lot of fun!

Comments (1)

Fairytale beautiful

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