Light painting can create awesome images. When your camera is set on a long shutter speed, with a small F.Stop, and low ISO, you can shoot in darkness wearing dark clothing and walk right into the scene being shot without being seen by the camera. This means that you can light paint a car showing the streaks of light on the edges of the car. By the way, if you walk into your scene while you shoot please make sure that you keep on moving; if you stand still for too long you may appear in the shot as a ghost.

          Although I have seen great shots using this technique, this kind of photography is not my cup of tea. What I prefer (please find your style, your niche, what you prefer) are more boring images; images where the technique is more subtle. Here is an example:

The Mission, San Juan Bautista, California

For this kind of shot you will want to wait until it gets dark, but don't wait too long if you prefer a blue sky over a black sky. Place your camera on a tripod. I use a medium ISO as it helps to lift the background sky a little (it makes it lighter rather than darker towards black). A smallish F.Stop is desired because we need a long shutter speed. Light painting requires time, so I prefer a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds. To get a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds set your camera on "bulb". This setting allows you to keep your shutter open for as long as you want. Touching the camera and holding your shutter release button down for as long as you want will result in camera shake. We typically do not want to touch the camera when we shoot, not even to press the shutter release button because touch introduces camera shake that negatively impacts your image's sharpness. So you will need a remote release. With a remote release you can trip the shutter and lock it in the tripped position for as long as you want without needing to hold the button down all the time. When you are done light painting, just release the lock and your shutter will close.

          Everything ready, camera set? The last thing you will need is a hunting light. I use a 2,000,000 candle light hunting lamp. Since the human eye tend to prefer warm colors to cold colors I use an old fashioned one that still gives off the yellow light. I do not like the new LED lights because they shine with a white light that tends to make the images look fake (the colors just do not look right). Trip the camera's shutter and lock it in the open position with your remote shutter release. Switch on your hunting light and start painting your building, car, chair, (whatever you want light painted).

          In the scene above, you will notice that I did not give the whole scene even light. I gave more light to certain sections that others. This was done because that is where I wanted to keep the viewer's eyes. You can paint your scene whichever way you want. When you are done, just close your shutter. Ensure that you paint from next to your camera and not from behind it as we do not want light from the light source to enter the camera through the view finder (mirrorless cameras do not have this problem).

          Your camera may take a long time to process this image because of the length of the exposure. You camera is doing what Canon calls "black frame subtraction" to reduce noise. If you camera does not take long to process the image, please consider turning this feature on. Once you can see your shot and inspect your histogram for exposure you can determine if you need to re-shoot. You may need to keep your shutter open longer and paint longer (if you shot is too dark). You may need to shorting things if your image is too bright.

          These shots have a lot of impact and people may ask how you shot these kind of shots because not to many people know about light painting (I am speaking of the general public, not photographers). These shots are a bit different. Play around and be creative. This technique can be used to create all sorts of shots.

          Have fun trying this out.