What is painting with light?
Painting with light is a photographic technique in which you open the shutter of your camera open for long enough to use a light source to "paint" in the darkness or to create another layer to something already in the picture. You can do this by opening the shutter, get yourself in a desired position, use a flash once in order to effectively freeze you into the photograph and then use a light source (for example a flash light) to draw over the top before closing the shutter again. The outcome is often very strange.
Although it sounds it, this technique really isn't that simple. Here are the variables you must take into account when taking your own light painting photographs:
Blurred images: This can be down to two things. Firstly, you must try and keep the camera as still as possible as even upon any small nudge or motion of the camera, the subject/s of the photograph become immediately blurred. It is a good idea to use a tripod whilst photographing in order to avoid this. Secondly, it's down to the focus of the camera. As these photographs are taken in complete darkness, it is difficult to maintain the focus of the camera. To avoid this, we had the lights turned on inside the room whilst we prepared so that we could get the person of our photos in perfect focus for when the lights went off. When we achieved this, we put a small marker on the floor and kept the camera in the same place so that as long as you were on that point, you'd be in focus.
The camera: The camera that you use must have a manual mode so that you can change the shutter speed to make it long enough. If you put the camera on the "bulb setting" it will allow you to have complete control over this meaning that when you press the button it opens the shutter, and again to close it.
Although it sounds it, this technique really isn't that simple. Here are the variables you must take into account when taking your own light painting photographs:
Blurred images: This can be down to two things. Firstly, you must try and keep the camera as still as possible as even upon any small nudge or motion of the camera, the subject/s of the photograph become immediately blurred. It is a good idea to use a tripod whilst photographing in order to avoid this. Secondly, it's down to the focus of the camera. As these photographs are taken in complete darkness, it is difficult to maintain the focus of the camera. To avoid this, we had the lights turned on inside the room whilst we prepared so that we could get the person of our photos in perfect focus for when the lights went off. When we achieved this, we put a small marker on the floor and kept the camera in the same place so that as long as you were on that point, you'd be in focus.
The camera: The camera that you use must have a manual mode so that you can change the shutter speed to make it long enough. If you put the camera on the "bulb setting" it will allow you to have complete control over this meaning that when you press the button it opens the shutter, and again to close it.
Harold Eugene Edgerton
Harold Eugene Edgerton born in Nebraska in 1903 was not only a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts institute of technology but also a very important man in the evolution of modern day photography.
Being the inventor of the generic flash we use on todays cameras, he was a very influential man in the artistic world. To add to this, his development in the technical world of photography lead him to make it possible for US planes during WW2 to photograph countries suspected of producing nuclear weapons from a mile in the air. read more about that here (I found it very interesting but its not widely relevant). Along with the invention of the strobe light, that made it possible to photograph events happening too fast for the human eye to even begin to process. Like the impact of a bullet, or less dramatic but fascinating nevertheless, how a cat uses it's tongue to drink. Below are some of these strobe photography images...
Being the inventor of the generic flash we use on todays cameras, he was a very influential man in the artistic world. To add to this, his development in the technical world of photography lead him to make it possible for US planes during WW2 to photograph countries suspected of producing nuclear weapons from a mile in the air. read more about that here (I found it very interesting but its not widely relevant). Along with the invention of the strobe light, that made it possible to photograph events happening too fast for the human eye to even begin to process. Like the impact of a bullet, or less dramatic but fascinating nevertheless, how a cat uses it's tongue to drink. Below are some of these strobe photography images...
These images were used using a strobe light, invented by Harold Eugene Edgerton that can send out a ray of light at one millionth of a second. This means that when you photograph an event at such speeds as the ones above, the strobe light stops them in time. This was a uge break through in the development in the filming industry as it allowed things like sports to be filmed at such high
My light paintings
This photograph is a good example of over exposure. As you can see, the image is too bright to see clearly. The way that painting with light works means that there are many variables to consider when taking the images. I made the shape by simply twirling the lights in an attempted symmetrical way just before I turned of the lights keeping my arms in the same place and getting the photographer use the flash.
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As well as featuring in my photographs, also directed and photographed others. Here they are...
Although partially over exposed, I really like this photograph. The subject is clear and the is a lot going on. You can see that I had used the flash once, hence the main layer of the photograph that is the 5 boys in the photograph. Also, you can see some additional exposures of their faces dotted around the image where they had used their own lights to light up their faces in different positions. And finally, the blue coloured, scratch like lines lines drawn on by Joe, who's in the middle of the photograph. Of which I think is a nice little touch as it breaks up the photograph and makes it less of just a photograph of some boys mucking around. I think that it is a good replication of this section of photography as it involves small segments of strobe photography and painting with light.