# Painting with light: Have a go!



## BeyondMegapixels (Jul 7, 2009)

I recently did a blog post on painting with light and I was wondering if anyone here had given this type of photography a go and could give me samples of their work. I'm just curious as to what other people have done in this area. 

You can have a look at the post below for creating your own images and such.

Painting with light! | Beyond Megapixels


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## HeY iTs ScOTtY (Jul 8, 2009)

wow!!! i read this in a photography magazine and have been looking and waiting for a chance to do this. after i read the artice i went out and played with a flashlight to see what i could do in my yard and found nothing but i did play around and tried to do some dumb things just to see what they would look like. i will post them in a minute(have to upload to facebook or something). i cant wait to do this for real though. i saw some awesome looking pictures done by using flashlighs and putting your camera on a long exposure or bulb.


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## HeY iTs ScOTtY (Jul 8, 2009)

i know these are stupid but i was just out testing what it would look like, how easy it was, settings, etc. i think the third one would of looked cool if there was someone in the light beam like they were being beamed up be a spaceship. might have to try that.


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## Clawed (Jul 8, 2009)

Thanks for sharing your blog. It just so happens that I am getting into light painting and I love it. I havent given it much practice though. Anyway, maybe I will practice a bit, and see what I can come up with (for now, here's my 'sig' I shot last week).


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## HeY iTs ScOTtY (Jul 8, 2009)

i notice you guys are using colored light and putting it in the pictures. currently I'm going to be trying something different. I'm going to be using flashlights some with colored lenses to light up trees and other types of landscapes. it really puts a cool twist on your photos if you can find a good arrangement. I'm gonna look for something to link to show what i want to do. i know the photos i posted above look boring but when you find an better more interesting object at night you can "paint" only certain things you want to stand out with a flashlight and it looks awesome. 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/dogeatdog5/Joshua_Burning_by_dogeatdog5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/dogeatdog5/Midnight_Sequoia_by_dogeatdog5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/dogeatdog5/Secret_Places_II_by_dogeatdog5.jpg

hell here is the page with a bunch
http://www.diyphotography.net/painting_with_light


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## Clawed (Jul 8, 2009)

HeY iTs ScOTtY said:


> i notice you guys are using colored light and putting it in the pictures. currently I'm going to be trying something different. I'm going to be using flashlights some with colored lenses to light up trees and other types of landscapes. it really puts a cool twist on your photos if you can find a good arrangement. I'm gonna look for something to link to show what i want to do. i know the photos i posted above look boring but when you find an better more interesting object at night you can "paint" only certain things you want to stand out with a flashlight and it looks awesome.
> 
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/dogeatdog5/Joshua_Burning_by_dogeatdog5.jpg
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/dogeatdog5/Midnight_Sequoia_by_dogeatdog5.jpg
> ...


Yeah, and that's what I am hoping to do as well. I think the "light writing" thing is a little tacky, and that's why I want to get out this weekend and see what I can do. Thanks for sharing the examples  :thumbup:


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## Garbz (Jul 8, 2009)

Our local flickr group just had a meet with exactly this theme. It was a heck of a lot of fun trying to remember that an s backwards still is an s. I wrote my name incorrectly about 10 times. 

My True Form:





A tree:


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## kyle9128 (Jul 9, 2009)

what are you guys doing to get the different colors....different laser pointers or flashlights or just like translucent colored paper over the light?


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## newrmdmike (Jul 9, 2009)

yup, colored gels!

my favorite light paintings are by troy paiva lostamerica.com


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## Garbz (Jul 10, 2009)

LEDs attached to 9V batteries.


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## Moglex (Jul 10, 2009)

Garbz said:


> LEDs attached to 9V batteries.



Carefully!

Most LED's will need a resistor if you are going to power them from a 9v battery.


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## Garbz (Jul 10, 2009)

Very true. I shouldn't have said it was that basic. It was actually a constant current source made from about $1.50 worth of spare parts. But yes you can't just hook an LED to a battery.

For those who do want to try you need an LED a battery and a resistor, the actual electrical engineering then is easy. Here's an awesome instructable: LEDs for Beginners

LEDs come in every colour most recently including pink, and come in a white, IR, and UV varieties too. This is also an awesome project to give to any 4 year old in an attempt to impress and convince them to become a high earning senior electrical engineer in the future so they may support you in your old age


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## Clawed (Jul 10, 2009)

kyle9128 said:


> what are you guys doing to get the different colors....different laser pointers or flashlights or just like translucent colored paper over the light?


I got my lights from a cereal box... seriously. I also picked up a couple of extra LEDs from Target.


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## rubbertree (Jul 10, 2009)

I tried this out at Christmas when one of my kids got a dual light saber for one of their Wii games. You can still see the kid though...


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## icassell (Jul 10, 2009)

This has always been a favorite of mine:

Picasso&#8217;s Light Painting | Frames Magazine


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## McNugget801 (Jul 13, 2009)

I love to paint.

Mesa Arch






Desert Orb





Fun with LED's


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## paraclete (Jul 13, 2009)

I haven't done much light painting, but it looks interesting. I tried, but back when I last tried, it was with an automatic camera, so it didn't really work that well, haha. But I bought a nikon D50 from Adorama, and they're SUPPOSED to ship it today, so I'm looking forward to playing with it more soon, hopefully. Anyway, I like the idea of 'high lighting' certain things in a picture... It wasn't really what I thought of when I first read 'light painting,' but its an idea I really hope to play with some... In addition to the taking colored lights or something and using those.


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## Garbz (Sep 16, 2009)

??? Huh most of these exposures are but a few seconds long. I'm sure I could run my LEDs a good 3 weeks on a half flat battery.


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## Dao (Sep 16, 2009)

Garbz said:


> ??? Huh most of these exposures are but a few seconds long. I'm sure I could run my LEDs a good 3 weeks on a half flat battery.



Ignore that person, all his/her posts in this forum were the battery post.


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## RussJasper (Sep 16, 2009)

McNugget801 said:


> I love to paint.
> 
> Mesa Arch
> 
> Fun with LED's




how did you get these ribbons to show like that?!? well done. please do a write up of your technique


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## Buckster (Sep 16, 2009)

I started experimenting with moving colored lights and multiple long exposures in 1976 with a Polaroid and Christmas lights:

Title: Electric Fence





Title: Electric Tunnel





Here's a more recent one:

Title: Enchanted Place





I set up the shot with camera @ ISO 100, on a tripod, pre-focused at a temporary marker and set to bulb, then took my place in front of the camera at my 'mark #1', where I'd pre-focused, triggered the shutter by remote, and began the making of the photo. During the 176 second exposure, I performed the making of the orb using LED's wrapped in orange gels, with small holes that allowed the LED's to peek through to capture their blue light from certain angles. When the orb was complete, I went to my pre-arranged 'mark #2' to pose with the imaginary orb, and remote triggered two 580EX II speedlights - one between the two trees on the right side of the composition to serve as a main and to help with the illusion that I'm being lit by the orb, and the other to camera left to help fill the scene and light the bark.

It's fun stuff to play with.


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## Kondro86 (Sep 16, 2009)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34048121@N05/sets/72157616740371340/

Theres a link to my Flickr set.


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## Kondro86 (Sep 16, 2009)

RussJasper said:


> McNugget801 said:
> 
> 
> > I love to paint.
> ...


 



I believe he is using light cathodes.

Flickr: Discussing homemade cathode!(tut) in Light Junkies

Theres a link to a Flickr group light junkies. And theres a good tutorial on how to make portable light cathodes.


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## Kondro86 (Sep 17, 2009)

Here's a more recent one:

Title: Enchanted Place






cool shot!


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## photospherix (Sep 25, 2009)

Great shots. I ended up here through an error. I was shooting a customers workshop and needed to post him into the shot. I then had a lot of shots with me and a shoplight.


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## LokiZ (Sep 25, 2009)

hmmm, so I take it the SMT LED's I have would be the equivalent to a fine point pen or brush?  LOL.  Looks like fun I will have to give this a whirl.  Anyone ever seen those frisbee UFO's with the LED's on them.


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## RyanLilly (Sep 25, 2009)

Xavier Nuez

this guy does some pretty awsome stuff, using long exposure MF and walking around with speedlights.


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## Buckster (Sep 26, 2009)

RyanLilly said:


> Xavier Nuez
> 
> this guy does some pretty awsome stuff, using long exposure MF and walking around with speedlights.


Great link!  Very inspiring!


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## teishu (Oct 14, 2009)




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## PHILLIP MAC (Oct 19, 2009)

Ok. I have been light painting for many years , the best way is to have a small flash to show the  subject then light paint over it.
I have written a lesson on it , see my website tutorials, one of the great light painters was a guy called Aaron Jones he invented a fibre optic device called the hosemaster a fantastic machine for pros. with many acces. 
The only problem was the price around 6000 us, when I had my first one. Broncolor also do a light brush that was in the past greatly inferior to the hosemaster.
Anyway it's difficult to explain so go to the light painting lesson on the site.
Regards
Phillip


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