Light Painting - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Light painting, also known as light drawing or light graffiti is a photographic

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

technique in which exposures

Exposure (photography)

In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value and scene luminance over a specified area.In photographic jargon, an exposure...

are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera

Camera

A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...

. In many cases the light source itself does not have to appear in the image. The term light painting also encompasses images lit from outside the frame with hand-held light sources. Light Painting Photography can be traced back to the year 1914 when Frank Gilbreth, along with his wife Lillian Moller Gilbreth, used small lights and the open shutter of a camera to track the motion of manufacturing and clerical workers. The Gilbreth’s did not create the photographs as an artistic endeavor; they instead were studying what they called “work simplification”. The Gilbreth’s were working on developing ways to increase employee output and simplify their jobs. While they were not using light painting as an artistic medium they did produce the first known light painting photographs. The first known photographer to use this technique was Man Ray

Man Ray

Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...

in his series "Space Writing" created in 1935. The photographer Ellen Carey discovered Man Ray's signature signed by penlight nearly 74 years after the pictures had been taken.

Moving the light source

The light can either be used to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or to "paint" a picture by shining it directly into the camera

Camera

lens

Photographic lens

A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in...

. Light painting requires a sufficiently slow shutter speed

Shutter speed

In photography, shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open....

, usually a second or more. Like night photography

Night photography

Night photography refers to photographs taken outdoors between dusk and dawn. Night photographers generally have a choice between using artificial light and using a long exposure, exposing the scene for seconds, minutes, and even hours in order to give the film or digital sensor enough time to...

, it has grown in popularity since the advent of digital camera

Digital camera

A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...

s because they allow photographers to see the results of their work immediately.

Light painting can take on the characteristics of a quick pencil

Pencil

A pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....

sketch. In 1949 Pablo Picasso was visited by Gjon Mili

Gjon Mili

Gjon Mili was an Albanian-American photographer best known for his work published in Life.-Biography:Born to Vasil Mili and Viktori Cekani in Korçë, Albania, Mili came to the United States in 1923. In 1939, Mili landed a job as a freelance photographer for Life...

, known photographer and lighting innovator, who introduced him to some of his photographs of ice skaters with lights attached to their skates. Immediately Picasso started making images in the air with a small flashlight in a dark room. This series of photos became known as Picasso's "light drawings." Of these photos, the most celebrated and famous is known as "Picasso draws a centaur in the air."

Flash lights or light pens can also be used to create Full Bleed images. Different colored lights can be used to project an image on the CCD.

Moving the camera

Light painting by moving the camera, also called camera painting, is the antithesis of traditional photography. At night, or in a dark room, the camera can be taken off the tripod and used like a paintbrush. An example is using the night sky as the canvas, the camera as the brush and cityscapes (amongst other light sources) as the palette. Putting energy into moving the camera by stroking lights, making patterns and laying down backgrounds can create abstract artistic images. Also known as "Camera Toss."

Making a light painting doesn't necessarily need to be done in a dark room or at night. Sometimes using artificial light, like LEDs

Light-emitting diode

A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...

and mobile phones, or through the limited sunlight beaming in a curtained room creates a shadowing effect.

Live light painting

Light painting can be done interactively using a webcam

Webcam

A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...

. The painted image can already be seen while drawing, e.g. using the monitor or a video projector. Additional digital processing can be applied directly in the computer. This can be used e.g. to enable light painting during the day. A free software for that is myLightPainting.

Using projections

A technique known from light art is to project

Projection

Projection, projector, or projective may refer to:* The display of an image by devices such as:** Movie projector** Video projector** Overhead projector** Slide projector** Camera obscura** Projection screen...

images on to irregular surfaces (faces, bodies, buildings etc.), in effect "painting" them with light.
A photograph or other fixed portrayal of the resulting image is then made.

Technique and equipment

A variety of light sources can be used, ranging from simple flashlight

Flashlight

A flashlight is a hand-held electric-powered light source. Usually the light source is a small incandescent lightbulb or light-emitting diode...

s to dedicated devices like the Hosemaster, which uses a fiber optic light pen. Other sources of light including candles, matches, fireworks, lighter flints, glowsticks, and Poi

Poi (juggling)

Poi refers to both a style of performance art and the equipment used for engaging in poi performance. As a performance art, poi involves swinging tethered weights through a variety of rhythmical and geometric patterns. Poi artists may also sing or dance while swinging their poi...

are also popular.

A tripod

Tripod (photography)

In photography, a tripod is used to stabilize and elevate a camera, or to support flashes or other photographic equipment. All photographic tripods have three legs and a mounting head to couple with a camera...

is usually necessary due to the long exposure times involved. Alternatively, the camera may be placed on or braced against a table or other solid support. A shutter release cable

Bulb (photography)

Bulb, abbreviated B, is a shutter speed setting on an adjustable camera that allows for long exposure times under the direct control of the photographer. With this setting, the shutter simply stays open as long as the shutter release button remains depressed...

or self timer

Self timer

A self timer is a device on a camera that gives a delay between pressing the shutter release and the shutter's firing. It is most commonly used to let photographers to take a photo of themselves , hence the name....

is generally employed in order to minimize camera shake. Color Gels can also be used to color the light sources.

Manual focus

Manual focus

In the field of photography, a manual focus camera is one in which the operator has to adjust the focus of the lens by hand. Before the advent of autofocus, all cameras had manually adjusted focusing; thus, the term is a retronym....

is often used since autofocus

Autofocus

An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...

systems may not perform well in low light. In addition, photographers often use a slow film speed

Film speed

Film speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system....

or low ISO setting on a digital sensor to minimize grain (or digital noise) and increase exposure tolerance, as evaluating exposure is often tricky.

Aperture

Aperture

In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...

is also an important variable in light painting. Smaller apertures such as f16 or f22 generate a sharper image and preserve a large depth of field, creating deep focus

Deep focus

Deep focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique using a large depth of field. Depth of field is the front-to-back range of focus in an image — that is, how much of it appears sharp and clear. Consequently, in deep focus the foreground, middle-ground and background are all in focus...

. This technique requires longer exposure times but creates interesting results. Larger apertures such as f5.6 or f2.8 often blur the lines drawn by a light pen or LED source.

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