Technique and tutorial for: Light Painting (Polar Bears) Requirements:1) A dark room (light tight if possible like a bathroom or walk-in closet) 2) A light that you will be using to paint. ( I used a mini-maglight $7 at Walmart, you can control the light beam by turning the head which is a nice feature and the top comes completely off so just the L.E.D. is fully exposed. 3) A Camera that can do timed shutter release and can be manually set to shutter speeds longer than 5 seconds. (You need time to draw.) 4) A Tripod (long exposures plus hand held equals no no) The object to shoot. Extras--- A stand (for the object) An object (for the stand) A faster lens helps but it isn't essential, I shot with a 50mm 1.7f Setup:Compose and focus the shot with the lights on, then turn the auto focus off because as soon as you turn off the lights the camera will search and throw off the focus. NOW turn off the lights. Decide how long you want the shot to last which is basically deciding how long you want to draw/write for. I chose 5 seconds just to pick a time. Set the shutter speed to 5 seconds and and while shining your light on the object, meter until the light is correctly exposed. Then, under expose a stop just to account for the extra light that would be coming through the lens. So meter for the light and drop a stop. Now comes the fun part. You're metered correctly and the shot is composed the way you want it and the focus is correct. Now it is just trial and error. Set your camera to delayed shutter release, I used 2 seconds. If you have a remote shutter or wireless then you can use that. I am to cheap to buy a $30 remote right now when this works just fine. Remove the top from the flashlight to expose the L.E.D. I chose to start with the light in the scene and end with it going out to show it kind of interacting with the bears. Hit the shutter and get ready to paint, you will hear the shutter open and that's when you know to start drawing, you have 5 seconds do what ever you like. Do not be afraid to go crazy. The light from the L.E.D. will expose the object correctly while showing a trail of light where ever you went. Depending on what you were going for. From there you can start adding more lights or begin by painting (normal flashlight beam) and finish by drawing (bare L.E.D). Hints:If you move too slow you will start to see trails of you or your clothing from the reflected light. Sometimes it can make a nice pattern for the back ground, other times its just a pain. If you want more time, just choose a longer exposure, re-meter and shoot. The best part about light painting is you can control the highlights, shadows ,what is visible and what isn't, like I did here:
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