Painting With Light

Here's one hot off of the press for you. These pictures have literally just been taken and are still a bit wet so handle with care.

For a few weeks now I've been meaning to try out a new technique known as light painting. This is basically where you black out a room, or go out at night, and then use a long exposure and a torch or other light source to paint an image of some kind. This is basically my hallway (I couldn't use the front room because Sue wanted to watch Men In Black) with me sat on the floor using a mixture of phone and iPod to 'paint' with. I set up the remote within reach of Sue and got her to control the exposure in bulb mode which basically means she pressed a button every time I yelled Now! She was thrilled to be my assistant for this.

Anyway, after a lot of trial and error, I almost managed to get something passable. The trick lies in being able to visualise what you've already painted because you can't see it. I also needed to learn to cover the light with my hand to, effectively, take the pen off the paper so to speak. There's definitely a knack to this. I've thrown in one or two of my botched attempts and I need way more practice but hopefully you'll be able to see what I was aiming for. And thank you to Sue for being my glamorous, sofa-based assistant.

A woeful first attempt

This heart is a bit abstract but you get the picture

Smiley face? Just.