Light Painting Tutorial – Photography Tips – Light Drawing

If you’re tired of creating uniform pictures, we offer you an original idea for the photo – Light Painting.
Light Painting (or Light Drawing) is creating drawings on the photo with light. It is easy to make such photo and the results will always be original.
The biggest problem that you may face when you try to take a picture with the technique of Light Painting is how to set up the camera.
Forget about the auto mode. After all, when the camera realizes that it is asked to take a picture of darkness, it will use a flash inevitably.
Put your DSLR camera to manual mode and set the following parameters:
– Shutter Speed – 10”-20” (depending on the complexity of the drawing);
– Aperture – F8 (then the image will be sharper, and it will be easier for you to get into focus);
– ISO 100 (in auto mode ISO can grow to 1600 or 3200, and you get a picture with lots of grains).

You need to make the photo in full or partial darkness.
For picture not to be blurry because of a slow exposure, use a tripod.
To draw a “picture” you can use any light source (flashlight, candles, lighter, garland, sparklers). The easiest way is to “draw” the object, which consists of one shape (heart, star). If you want to make the photo with two objects or a few individual letters, you have to close your light source with a hand when moving it from one object to another.
In this video you will see a couple of the simplest shapes in style of Light Painting:

Do not be afraid to experiment with color, then your pictures will be more interesting.