Painting With Light

So one thing I promised was to post more of my own photography. This was one my favorite projects to date: Light Painting. Light painting is the art of creating light in darkness. After all, isn't that what photography is all about? Creating light, whether it be in light or darkness?

This project was a tricky one. Not because I didn't know how to achieve the look. My 5 year old could do that..in fact, you'll see in a bit what mean, but because we also had to tell and create a story with our photo. My instructor is all about storylines. "What story will you create when capturing these moments?" is a question we hear often in her class. I invested so much time into this project and passed the assignment as well. This post is not to brag about my grade, but to show you the highs and lows it took to achieve that passing grade.

This photo was inspired by HartLight on YouTube. I watched several of his light painting videos to get some inspiration and it was on! I followed his technique to achieve this. Halloween was also approaching so I thought it would be cool to do something kind of creepy. Mission Complete!

I enlisted my sweet boy, Benjamin to help me with the concept. I had two weeks to work on the project. I used the first week to research and play and the second week to bring my concept to life. I achieved this affect by using glow sticks, a 15 second exposure, and a light saber. Yes, a Star Wars light saber! Somehow, Benjamin created a futuristic gun just by his movements with the light saber in his hands. How cool right?!

Though Benjamin is incredibly out of focus, his facial expression gives this photo a sense of calmness, even though there's no real technique happening with the light painting. I just wanted to play around with some different shapes to see what I could do by moving the light differently.

The pictures above and below are me bringing my concept to life. The first photo (top) was achieved with a flash light, with a homemade fiberglass diamond that I colored myself with Sharpie markers. The second photo (bottom) was achieved with a star gazer that I bought for my youngest son when he was born and a piece of glitter card stock. I loved the way it created a cloudy effect.

Which brings me to the photo that gave me a passing grade...

Madisyn was such a good sport. Because she dances, she's always super aware of her lines, which made her a perfect model for this project. I used the same technique on this photo as I did for the previous photo, a star gazer and glitter card stock. Because the star gazer changes from blue, to purple, to green, it created the perfect transitions for the cloud of light.

Lighting painting is a super fun technique to incorporate into your next photo shoot. If you are interested in having this effect for your pictures, be sure to ask the photographer before booking to save you some time and money. I can't wait to share more of my past and future projects with you. Have you ever tried light painting in your photos? Be sure to tag me in them on Instagram. And if you're interested in a step by step on how to create your own light painting photos, comment down below. Also, don't forget to enter the birthday giveaway. Head over to the SUPER SPECIAL BIRTHDAY SURPRISE post and enter there or go to my Instagram for official rules. Until next time...