painting with light

i wanted to begin to experiment with some painting with light techniques. i dont

know much about it, but ive seen a variety of images that have been " painted" i was

curious how the technique is done, and if anyone has any suggestions for me. i am

shooting with a 35mm contax camera, i dont have a studio or any lighting equipment.

any tips or suggestions on how to get started would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

I have been experimenting with this for some time, and can offer a bit of my experience. The situations in which I generally try this are outdoor, landscape at hyperfocal with dark foreground. I calculate exposure using my spot meter, totally ignoring that I intend to light paint, and double for reciprocity. Shooting 100 ISO, 35mm, 20mm lens, f22, often exposure is two minutes (sometimes I forget my watch and have to count this in my head 1 one thousand ... 2 one thousand ... great fun!). While film is exposing, I use my flashlight to 'paint' the foreground - generally for 20-30 seconds. This seems to work. One thing I have found is that choice of flashlight is important - it should be strong. I use a Stremlight Scorpion, powered by 2 lithium C123 photo batteries - and this baby is *bright* - much more than the large mag-lights - and it fits in my pocket comfortably. In fact - this is just a damn good light period - perhaps the best pocket-sized light you can buy besides surefire brand which are too expensive.

 

In all the times I have tried this - my painting has *never* overexposed - in fact I have to remind myself to do it for longer than I think I should. One thing to pay attention is the motion you 'brush' with - if you are going up and down a straing line - the ends of the line, if you don't modify your 'stroke' will be brighter - because one tends to linger there for an instant before the return stroke. This can give a 'barbell' looking effect - with two blobs of light at either end of the stroke.

 

This is a fun technique, capable of producing some really cool results, and I hope you enjoy experimenting wiht it. If you're interested - I could try and find and post some images I made this way.

 

I'm sure those with more experience can elaborate/correct :) my remarks here.

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=526277">Emil Schildt</a>, who has posted some arresting light-painted images on photo.net, includes this <a href="http://www.98981010.dk/emil/teknik%20-%20PAINT%20WITH%20LIGHT.htm">tutorial</a> on his <a href="http://www.98981010.dk/emil/">web site</a>.