Light Painting

 Light Painting

Find a shutter speed that gives you sufficient time to finish painting your intended picture, and fine-tune from there.

You can use helpers to manipulate the light, or you can move the camera. This is often called ICM for Intentional Camera Movement.

Camera Rotation

Straight Line Movement

Lens Zoom

Shot with a Nikon D750, 70mm, f/4.0, 5 seconds, ISO 100.

Random Camera Movement

EOS 7D Mark II/ EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM/ FL: 16mm (26mm at 35mm film-equivalent)/ Shutter-priority AE (f/16, 3.2 sec., EV-0.7)/ ISO 200/ WB: White Fluorescent Light

Move the camera in the reverse of your intended direction

The figure you paint will be opposite to the direction in which you move the camera. This is really important if you are painting words!

Furthermore, during exposure with your dSLR, the mirror is raised and the viewfinder will be blacked out, so you will not be able to check your light trail. 

This means that you have no choice but to rely on your intuition. 

Start off with simple figures such as circles or triangles to get used to it.

EOS 7D Mark II/ EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM/ FL: 16mm (26mm at 35mm film-equivalent)/ Shutter-priority AE (f/16, 4 sec., EV-0.7)/ ISO 200/ WB: Auto

This light painting lacks impact because the start and end points of the figure do not meet. Try to connect the points as accurately as you can.