Practice Makes Perfect

I have spent some more time learning light painting this past week. I started off by looking at websites. One things that I have noticed is that there are a lot of websites that repeat the same thing others have said, and they use the same videos from YouTube. So, in my searches, I really did not find anything that specifically says, “This is how you take a light painting photo”. In fact some sites said light photography is like a trial and error process, where you experiment with the light and see what you come up with. So, that is exactly what happened with this learning experience. To see the list of websites I have viewed, go to the very top of this page to the menu and under Learning Project and click on Resources.

I did however find two great videos that show what you can create and produce with light photography.

I hope to learn how to do stop/freeze frame animate photographs that I take, but that is perhaps the end goal!

I took out my camera and started to take some photographs. As I was taking photos, I realized some of the following key points:

1. You need to have a clear idea about what you are going to paint.
2. Be able to visualize what you will paint – even though you are in the dark!
3. You need practice writing/drawing backwards.
4. Start with drawing something small. Don’t be afraid to repeat and master what you just drew.
5. Your camera needs to be set to the lowest exposure.
6. The flashlight/light source needs to be pointed at the camera.
7. Because I don’t have a remote for my shutter, I have only 30 seconds to paint. It is important not to take too much time, but to not rush either.
8. Focus the camera before you turn the lights off.
9. It is really hard to tell where you are painting in relation to what is in focus in the camera.
10. Practice, practice and more practice.

I have also realized:

1. I may actually have to purchase a tripod.
2. I may have to buy a remote control shutter release, allowing for more time to paint and not having a 30 second time limit per photo.
3. It might be nice to have someone be in charge of the camera.

However, it is too soon to make any purchases or to enlist help, but this could become a real possibility in the near future!

Check out the video I put together of the photos I took this week!