Back on New Years Eve I wanted to have a go at light painting (the art of being creative with light during a long exposure to “paint” a picture), so I took along my tri-pod and DSLR.
There’s a lot of trial and error involved here, from working out the right length of time for your exposure to your “assistant” writing backwards with a torch. My kids quickly lost interest, but one of the boys at the party was keen to keep trying, excitedly running back to me at the camera to see how good his “painting” was.
Working at dusk (about 20 minutes after sunset) there was enough light to show our surroundings, but dark enough to allow long exposures. I settled on having the shutter open for 10 seconds (using “Shutter Priority” mode to let the camera take care of the other settings), this was just long enough for the kid to write “2014” backwards with a torch.
I doubt this will be the last time I experiment with light painting!
This post was originally published on simonsphotoblog.com