These Photos Were Made Using Only Photo-Realistic Light Painting
What do you think of when you hear the words “light painting“? Colorful and squiggly lines over a dark background? An explosion of glowing sparks?
Did you know that you can also add photo-realistic images to your long-exposure photos by painting them in with light?
The tool is often used to paint colorful stripes of light, but you can also give it a photograph and add that to your scene by waving the stick across the shot over the course of an exposure (the photo above is a light painting of a movie still frame). Here are some examples…
If you find a basketball hoop out in the open, you can paint Michael Jordan dunking on it:
![Photo by Kiu Photography](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/kiuphotography.jpg)
Hungry? You can have floating food in your frame.
![Photo by Rick Drew Photography](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/16515898804_92178a1f47_o.jpg)
Have the Millennium Falcon touch down right outside your home.
You can add realistic fire to a scene without worrying about getting burned (or arson charges):
Add photo-realistic monsters, people, and things.
![Photo by Rick Drew](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/17138327295_72372b2ca3_o.jpg)
![Photo by Robbert Djikstra.](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/robbertdjikstra.jpg)
![Photo by VersionTwo photography](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/version2.jpg)
In addition to the $349 pixelstick, this type of light painting project also requires a good bitmap file and a steady hand as you wave the stick around in the shot.