Painting with Light

There are tons of different ways you can incorporate this technique. You could make a music video where the band's members have ribbons of light beaming around them. Or you could give your video life by adding light painting to show character movement. Light painting can produce some amazing visual results, and with some preparation it may not be as hard as you think.
Here’s what you’ll need:

• Stills Camera with manual settings


• Tripod


• Dark clothing


• A light source, preferably a flashlight, LED, glowsticks work pretty well


• A friend or partner to help (not necessary but guaranteed to increase the number of laughs)


• A dark environment


• A fun idea!

 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. Man Ray, in his 1935 series "Space Writing," was the first known art photographer to use the technique and Barbara Morgan began making light paintings in 1940.

Techniques

By moving the light source, the light can be used to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or to "paint" a picture by shining it directly into the camera lens. Light painting requires a slow shutter speed, usually a second or more. Light painting can take on the characteristics of a quick pencil sketch. In 1949 Pablo Picasso was visited by Gjon Mili, a photographer and lighting innovator, who introduced Picasso to 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."

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.

Light painting can be done interactively using a webcam. The painted image can already be seen while drawing by using a monitor or projector.

A technique known from light art is to project 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.

And other development in this part of the photography is known as LAPP - Light art performance photography, that is described by the project and team of SWISS LAPP. In this photography is the integration of the background and the scenery a very important part.

To demonstrate a bit of live-video-art history during the VJzoo.com Painting With Light workshops, we had dancer Ellen McCarthy come along and participants had the chance to experiment with a video camera and projector in a feedback-loop. Psychedelic fun! Music Performed live by Kit Pop and Cordata.