The best thing about light painting is that it enables you to release your inner artist. If you’re good at painting or illustration, you can transform a light source into a paintbrush and your world into a canvas. Further, photographers and light painting artists have come up with various tools and accessories to enhance their craft. This has enabled them to create beautiful masterpieces. Take for instance the following long exposure taken by light painting specialist Stephen Knight. While the image appears complicated, the result and execution are absolutely brilliant:
“Light Painting Amongst the Roots of Moreton Bay Fig Tree” by Stephen Knight (Via Imgur. Click image to see full size.)
The image is a 113-second-long exposure that Knight took with a Sony a6400 and the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 lens. He shot it at f/1.4, f/8 and ISO 100. He created the light trails using the Lightpainter Ryu’s Lightworks from Light Painting Paradise, as well as Sofirn SP31 V2.0 torches, a plexi rod spiral, plexi rod bubbles, tube connector, 15-cm plexi tube, and ball accessories. As for the fairy dust effect around the center of the image, he achieved that using a Lumintop FW1A flashlight. The warm whitewash lighting that you can see in the image is from a Convoy S2+ LH351D 2700K torch. This lighting has added a beautiful ambiance to the image.
It looks like he used a lot of tools for this one image. But considering the level of sophistication in the patterns of the light painting, it seems justified. What’s more impressive is how he was able to “paint” all of this in thin air. After all, it’s not like the lights leave a trail in reality. Hats off to his steady hands and his artistic vision.
Can you think of painting something close to this if you’re given all the required tools?
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