Light Painting Ideas for Beginners
- Select an object, such as an apple, a book or a table. Place the object in a very dark room and practice drawing the outline of the object with a small laser-type light. Use a thin beam of light for small objects. Practice by drawing around the outline of the object using the light a few times before pressing the shutter on the camera. Set your camera on a long exposure, such as eight seconds, and the draw around the object.
- Ask a friend to help you paint a light person. Place the person to be painted on a chair in a dark room or outside on a bench after the sun sets. Set the camera on long exposure and then press the shutter. Turn on the light and draw around the person's body, starting at the top of the head. Draw around each part of the body with the light only one time. Turn off the light when you return back to the starting point. This should produce a photograph of a "light person."
- Draw your name, a message or a picture in the air using light. Practice writing in the air before pressing the shutter. Visualize how the letters or pictures will be spaced across the area that will be captured by the camera. If you are facing the camera, write the message in the air from right to left. When painting with light on a wall, draw with light from left to right just as you would if writing with a pen. Press the shutter when you are ready and write quickly so that only the light is captured, not your hand or body.
- Choose a single object, such as a car or a tree, to paint with a glowing light. Press the shutter on the camera and shine a flashlight for about two seconds directly on the object, and then turn off the flashlight. For large objects, illuminate the object from top to bottom, or side to side, only one time and then turn off the light. The result should be the object illuminated in soft light surrounded by darkness. When done correctly, the object will appear to be floating in the darkness.