Light painting is a photography technique where handheld lights are used to draw in a scene while the camera shutter is open during a long exposure. This technique blends the movement of light together to create fluid, abstract images. Canadian photographer Christopher Martin often uses light painting to capture futuristic, experimental images of busy cities. Inspired by his work, the author aimed to use light painting to create abstract, futuristic photos and started by practicing the technique in a studio before capturing traffic at night using various light sources. The outdoor images turned out best as they are more interesting to viewers.

1. By Chelsie Brandrick Page 1
Unit 57 Blog Essay for Painting With Light
By Chelsie Brandrick
Light painting is a photography technique that is created by using handheld lights to
draw in a scene while the shutter of a camera is left open during a long exposure
photograph. It is often used in abstract and futuristic photography and can add
emphasis onto the subject being captured. Images will look the best when shooting in
a dark location and when the camera shutter is left open for more than 10 seconds.
The technique will blend the movement of the light together and create a fluid motion,
which can be edited later to create an abstract image. Exposure times for light
paintings can range from just a few seconds up to an hour or more.
Christopher Martin is a Canadian photographer who often takes photos of busy cities
and experiments with a range of photography techniques. He looks for special
moments to photograph and loves how photography allows him to play with reality by
manipulating it with motion blurs and long exposure. He has captured many images
using the painting with light technique and I was inspired by his ‘Light Painting With
Glow Sticks’ collection to be adventurous with my own photos. Chris’ photos are
futuristic and experimental and this is what I aimed to do when I took my images.
When I created my painting with light images I started by shooting in a studio so I
could experiment with the technique and familiarise myself with how it looks so I will
know how to manipulate the end result when I go outside to shoot. I started by using a

2. By Chelsie Brandrick Page 2
torch and then moved onto fairy lights and a multi-coloured party light. I found that
the more colours and power the light had, the better the image looked. In the studio I
set up a tripod to balance the camera and place the subject in the middle of the frame
with a light source before turning off
the lights. Once I was confident with
the technique in the studio, I went
outside to a busy road to capture the
traffic. These images turned out the
best, as they are the more interesting
to the viewer. I edited these photos
considerably, first by cropping the
pictures and adjusting the exposure
levels and secondly by adding in the
purple and green colours as well as a distortion effect. These images remind me of
Tokyo, Japan and I had an abstract and futuristic idea for the images during the
editing process.
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO: 100
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Focal Length: 20.0 mm
Equipment: Canon 7D, Tripod and Light Source