Have Fun With Light Painting – Part 2

In our last blog post we introduced you to a technique called light painting – literally painting with light – and showed you how it’s done. This week we’re going to share some creative ways that you can use this method to produce fantastic photos for your family and friends to enjoy.

Try lighting up your favourite church or an abandoned building. Use a very bright torch so the light will reach the top of the building and choose a long enough exposure so that the stars in the sky are captured too.

City lights art

Product photographers often use very expensive studio lights to create their images, but with a little practice it’s possible to emulate their techniques with a torch! Think shadows and textures and use your light sparingly to make moody low-key product images.

Try drawing stick figures sitting on a park bench or sat on one end of a seesaw while a willing accomplice sits on the other end. You can extend this idea as far as you wish: why not try painting a stick figure dancing with a friend, or even go crazy and paint a ghost coming out of your friend’s mouth! 

This is a great one for the kids: step outside at night and ask them to face you. Next, set your camera to a long exposure in bulb mode and using a narrow beam torch, draw wings coming out of their backs – anything from fairies to dragons! 

Are you or your kids Star Wars fans? You can easily recreate lightsaber battles with different coloured torches and toy lightsabers. May the light painting force be with you! 

One of our favourite techniques is to use torches or laser pens to outline everyday objects. Try this: place something like a pair of shoes on a table in a dark room then sweep a wide beam of light over them to light them up. Follow this up with a narrow beam of light that loosely outlines the details. It sounds simple, but it's a brilliant technique for bringing static subjects to life.  

Invest in several torches with different coloured beams or simply tape coloured sweet wrappers over your torch and go crazy creating colourful abstract art with light. Random or repeating patterns work equally well.

As you can see, the possibilities for light painting are almost endless – only your imagination is the limit. If you enjoy this method and produce something you’re proud of we recommend printing it large on canvas and hanging it on your wall. Light painting is a perfect conversation piece for your lounge!