When we say something is a "spin" or "twist" on an old classic, we usually don't mean it literally. But when it comes to the light painting photography of Martin Kimbell, he really did put a new spin on light painting with his creative light 'tornadoes.'
Light-painting started out as a very DIY genre of photography. Using flashlights, steel wool, sparks, LEDs, rope lights and many amalgamations of all of the above, photographers have created some interesting contraptions to spice up their work.
And now, well-known Montreal-base light painter Patrick Rochon (who we've featured a number of times) has set out to create a contraption of his very own.
Brian Matthew Hart has spent the better part of 9 years playing around with unique light drawing techniques. His latest project, Uncertainty, brings together the knowledge and inspiration he’s accumulated over those 9 years and packs them into one of the most abstracted and unique approaches to light painting we’ve ever come across.
It's easy to plateau when you're experimenting with light painting photography, and as a result, this fun genre can often turn into a flash in the pan hobby.
And so, in order to help sustain your interest in what I think is a worthwhile endeavor and an under appreciated form of photography, I've decided to provide a few of the toys and tricks I've picked up in my experiences. These are things that have helped respire my interest in the past. Hopefully they'll motivate you to continue experimenting as well.
Inspired by that which we cannot see -- such as the shapes of sound, the feelings we experience, the relationships of the various patterns in this world, and the energy constantly emitted by matter -- photographer Patrick Rochon has created a beautiful series of light-painting photographs called Radiant Light.
The Hubble Space Telescope recently decided to make a foray into light painting when it created the image you see above (full res below). A total accident caused by a glitch, the final image turned out more like modern art than the typical awe-inspiring photography we're used to seeing from Hubble.
Showing just how productive and intuitive collaboration can be, Montreal-based photographer Eric Paré and Michigan-based digital artist Mike Campau got together to create some incredible work that takes advantage of their individual skill sets.
We've seen plenty of RC drone footage and we've most certainly seen plenty of light painting photos. But what happens when you combine the two? You end up with this.
Inspired by Close Encounters of the Third Kind, production studio Fiction hooked up lights to a DJI Phantom RC drone and captured long exposure photographs while flying the drone through the frame in specific patterns. The results are interesting to say the least.
What happens when the concept of graffiti as we know it is flipped on its head? Well, I believe you end up with something like 'Painting with Lights,' a project by French photographer Philippe Echaroux -- something he calls 'Street Art 2.0.'
Nokia recently teamed up with light painting photographer Ian Hobson to prove to the world that a smartphone as advanced as the 1020 was capable of capturing awesome light painting shots. The resulting video is part tutorial, part inspirational, part Nokia ad -- and if you can ignore the last part, the first two make it well worth a couple minutes of your time.
Light painter Jason D. Page recently got in touch to show us an impressive series three years in the making that he has just completed. It's called 'Icons,' and it features a set of psychedelic light portraits Page calls 'Light Prints' that are done entirely in-camera.
As with most fields that are technology driven, in photography, if you don't keep moving you'll quickly find yourself dead in the water. This is why seasoned pros and amateur hobbyists alike should always be learning and expanding their abilities. It's really the only way to stay competitive. And I don't even mean that in a financial sense, I mean that just in terms of your skill set.
Light-painting, like time-lapse, is a genre of photography that is packed full of talent, making it really hard to pick quality work to feature (if you haven't already, check out this list of 10 amazing light-painting photogs you should follow right away).
We were thrilled, therefore, when we stumbled across Nicolas Rivals' series of steel wool light painting Rorschach tests dubbed, simply enough, Light Rorchach.
This is just awesome: professional-looking product photography done using nothing more than a tripod, an iPad, an iPhone and your camera of choice. Given the extremely affordable nature of the process, the results are downright epic.
No matter how much energy you have going into a project, it's likely that at some point you'll run out of steam. When you're hours in to editing your photos and are beginning to have an existential crisis about the real meaning of the words "tone curve," you'll suddenly stop and wonder why you're doing this in the first place.
Then the next day, when it's time to return to editing, you'll stare blankly at your computer screen or come up with any number of excuses or tasks that will prevent you from getting started.
Light painting is something that takes a lot of time and patience. Even after many trial and error attempts, nailing the exact look you're going for can be a challenge. pixelstick is a crazy new tool that aims to change all that, making mind-blowing light paintings something even artistically challenged photographers can create.
A basic description of it is: it's a stick-like device that lets you print digital images into long exposure photos.
If you're not familiar with the light painting photography of Darren Pearson then you're really missing out. Even if you're not a big fan of light painting, his work truly is something to behold -- whether it's his photos or the short skateboarder animation we shared with you at the beginning of the year.
But that skateboarder animation's got nothing on the video that Pearson released just a couple of days ago.
Dallas-based photographer Noel Kerns specializes in capturing haunting night scenes of ghost towns, decommissioned military bases, and industrial abandonments. His creative use of different colored lights combined with moon light helps these old abandoned places come alive as vivid nightscapes.
What happens when you give a bunch of skaters, some photographers and a light painter free reign to create a Street View tour of a French concert venue/cultural hotspot? We'll give you a hint, it's similar to what a French ski shop did for its virtual tour.
Long exposure photography and light painted letters have been used in many a situation. One of the more elaborate we've seen was a massive light-painting proposal we shared with you back in 2011. But what do you get when a graphics designer and self-proclaimed Apple geek decides to use the technique? Well, in the case of Marcus Byrne, you get the typeface known as Phone Streak.
Self-portraits aren't exactly ground-breaking -- in fact, the word "selfie" was recently added to the dictionary -- but Alex DeForest's self-portraits are anything but ordinary. His interesting creations mix light painting techniques with self-portrait photography to create some pretty cool results.
Light Painting goes as far back as Pablo Picasso, and since the true formation of the medium with pioneers such as Dean Chamberlain, Eric Staller and Vicki DaSilva, there has been a mass of people trying their hand at the world of light painting photography. The advent of the digital camera and the popularity of DSLRs has only made this number grow exponentially.
In this sudden growth and glut of people experimenting -- and I include myself as part of that "glut" so please don't be offended or discouraged -- it can sometimes be difficult to find those truly special artists who are expanding the medium and taking it to the next level. Luckily, I'm here to help. Here are 10 amazing light painting artists you need to check out:
If you follow the world of light-painting, you might recall photographer Patrick Rochon from the work he did with Red Bull Illume or his 24x360 collaboration with Eric Paré. His latest project is another solo act, this one a mix between light painting, dancing and martial arts.
Photographer Harold Ross is a practitioner of "light sculpting." Visiting various outdoor landscapes at night, he uses LED flashlights and other sources of light in order to selectively illuminate portions of his images. The resulting photos, which together form a project called "Night," show various locations in a style that looks more like an illustration or rendering than a photograph.
We've heard it from light painters before: the air is their canvas. The great thing about light painting is the ability to create something great just about anywhere. But that doesn't mean that you have to start with a blank or un-interesting 'canvas,' so to speak.
Photographer Stefano Bellamoli decided to get creative about where exactly he created his light paintings, and so he took his lights and camera into the marble mines of Verona, Italy.
When it comes to great light painting photography, we've had cause to mention Darren Pearson on more than one occasion. His dinosaur light paintings were well-received, and his skeleton skater light painting animation was just plain cool.
So rather than continuing to pull bits and pieces of Pearson's work to show you every time something catches our eye, we've decided to introduce you to him and his work as a whole, and let the light painting enthusiasts among you follow to your heart's content.
"Earthquake astrophotography light painting." How's that for a novel photography technique? It sounds strange, it's an apt description of how photographer Andrew Dare captured the squiggly photo above (on right). Dare was photographing the night sky with long exposures when an earthquake struck while his shutter was open.
Photographer Jason D. Page came to light painting by accident. Carrying his camera down the beach on a full moon night, he was taking long exposure of the water when he accidentally bumped his tripod -- from that moment on, he was hooked. But the reasons why light painting was able to have such an instant and significant impact on his life go much deeper than the accidental discovery of a cool technique.
In this short documentary, Page talks about his passion in depth, explaining how light painting works and giving us a glimpse into the dark past that drove him to ultimately 'see the light.'
Combining light painting with sports that involve long fluid motion is a match made in photography heaven that companies like Red Bull have already taken advantage of to create some pretty spectacular shots.
Photographers Joanna Jaskólska and Zach Ancell both had similar ideas, and their resulting photo series -- Breakdance Baby! and Trajectory -- are both unique examples of the awesome photography you can create when you mix dance, athletics and light painting.
We've featured the work of Eric Paré, Patrick Rochon and Timecode Lab before. Using a 24 DSLR fully circular bullet time rig developed by Rochon, Paré and Timecode put together some really cool light-painting projects. One of these was LightSpin: an art project that captured dancers using an awe-inspiring combination of light painting, bullet time and stop motion.
In the past we had only a few behind the scenes details to share with you. Fortunately, Paré recently decided to release the 8 minute "documentary" above in order to explain exactly what all goes into shooting his creations.
If you’ve ever harbored interest in trying light painting, there’s no better time than now. Summer is here and the weather is perfect for you start messing around with lights in the late evening, but where do you get started? Luckily I’m here to help!
This experimental video shows what you get when you combine dancers, light-painting, stop-motion, and a 360-degree camera rig. It's like eye-popping popping that's the product of cameras rather than extremely skilled dancing.
Earlier this month, we featured a neat light painting experiment by photographer Matt Holland that involved long exposure photos of rock climbers wearing colorful lights. The climbs resulted in colorful light trails that tracked the course each climber took.
Over the past four years, photographer Neal Grundy has also been working at combining long exposures, light painting, and rock climbing. Unlike Holland, however, his work is more focused on illuminating the faces of large cliffs rather than creating squiggly trails of light.
About a week ago, Red Bull Illume and Snap! Orlando revealed a collaboration they were working on called "Motion to Light," in which they paired the fluid motion of certain sports with light painting. Part one used photographer Patrick Rochon and a team of wakeboarders to capture some stunning pics. Now a week later, we have part two. And the sport of choice? Paramotoring.
What do you get when you combine rock climbers, glow sticks, and long-exposure photographs? Answer: some pretty neat light painting pictures.
St. Paul, Minnesota-based photographer and rock climbing enthusiast Matt Holland was able to experiment with rock-climbing light-painting photography recently when he went climbing at night with a group of friends in Jasper, Arkansas.
Red Bull Illume and Snap! Orlando recently came up with an awesome way to put a twist on the concept of light painting. They recruited light-painting photographer Patrick Rochon to photograph a team of wakeboarders who rode around with colorful lights strapped to their wakeboards!
Photographers Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard of From the Lenz have come up with a brilliant light painting concept that produces gorgeous results. For their project titled Neon Luminance, they dropped glow sticks into waterfalls and then used long exposures to capture the bright and colorful trails as the sticks were carried down stream.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong likes to push the boundaries of what he does, and lately that pushing has involved playing with fire ... literally. It seems he's taken a liking to working with pyrotechnicians and creating out of this world long exposures doing it, so after a speaking engagement in November of last year, Von Wong put together an open photo shoot with pyrotechnician Andrey DAS and fashion designer Virginie Marcerou.
Anyone and everyone was invited, and in all they were able to get a group of about 50 people to show up as they lit up the freezing night with everything from smoke grenades, to sparklers, to ropes of fire.
Earlier today, we showed you a number of time-lapse videos of Winter Storm Nemo that were created by people who were stuck indoors due to the heavy snowfall. New York-based photographer Brian Maffitt was also stuck indoors and he also turned to photography, but instead of shooting time-lapse photos, he turned to a different technique: long-exposure light painting.
His technique is rather interesting: instead of a flashlight, Maffitt projected a movie onto the falling snow in order to light up the snowflakes.
San Diego-based light-painting photographer Darren Pearson has a knack for drawing elaborate illustrations in mid-air using light. He frequently draws skeletons into his long-exposure photos, and recently created a series of photos showing a skateboarding skeleton.