Phototripping:
Light Painting Photography
By Shahid Saeed
Light painting photography is a technique that involves use of a hand-held camera to capture a light source. It has three basic techniques: light painting, light drawing and kinetic light painting. Light painting is using handheld light to selectively illuminate or colour parts of the subject. Light drawing is shining a light source towards the camera to draw a shape; it requires a slow shutter speed. Kinetic light painting requires moving the camera in a dark place…the camera can be taken off the tripod and used like a paintbrush to stroke the light. Here I show a few examples of each technique.
1. PLACE: Heritage Park, Abu Dhabi
TITLE: Palm Tree
SETTING: Manual Mode
PURPOSE OF THE SHOT: “Light drawing a shot with hand held light source”
CAMERA MODEL: Canon EOS 40D
F-STOP/APERTURE: f/8
ISO: 200
SHUTTER SPEED: 24 sec
TIP: Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art. (Ansel Adams)
2. PLACE: Heritage Park, Abu Dhabi
TITLE: Tram
SETTING: Manual Mode
PURPOSE OF THE SHOT: “Light drawing shot with hand-held light source”
CAMERA MODEL: Canon EOS 40D
F-STOP/APERTURE: f/8
ISO: 200
SHUTTER SPEED: 53 sec
TIP: Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution. (Ansel Adams)
3. PLACE: Heritage Park, Abu Dhabi
TITLE: Light Painting a Subject
SETTING: Manual Mode
PURPOSE OF THE SHOT: “Light painting a shot with hand held light source”
CAMERA MODEL: Canon EOS 40D
F-STOP/APERTURE: f/8
ISO: 200
SHUTTER SPEED: 89 sec
TIP: There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer. (Ansel Adams)
