• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

DIGITAL PHOTO MENTOR

Photography tips, tutorials and guides for Beginner and Intermediate Photographers.

  • Start Here
  • Photography Basics
    • Beginner Photography Tutorials
    • Free Photography Basics for Beginners Course
  • Photography Articles
    • Beginner Photography Tutorials
    • Photography Challenges
    • Photography Tips
      • Portrait Photography
        • Flash Photography
      • Night Photography
      • Street Photography
      • Photo Editing
      • Landscape Photography
      • Macro Photography
      • Photoshop Tutorials
      • Photography Equipment
  • Online Courses
    • Luminar Neo Course
    • Lightroom for Photographers: The Complete Course
    • Photoshop For Photographers: The Complete Course
    • Portrait Fundamentals
  • Private Tutoring
  • Store
    • Online Courses
    • Bokeh Overlays
    • Sky Replacements
    • Texture Backgrounds
    • Lightroom Presets
    • Private Tutoring
    • Cart
  • Login
  • Photography Basics
    • Beginner Photography Tutorials
    • Free Photography Basics for Beginners Course
  • Photography Challenges
    • Photography Challenges E-Book
    • 5-Day Photo Editing Challenge
    • All Our Photography Challenges
  • Photography Tips
    • Portrait Photography
      • Free Portrait Photography Key Concepts Course
      • Flash Photography
    • Night Photography
    • Street Photography
    • Travel Photography
    • Landscape Photography
    • Macro Photography
    • Photography Equipment
  • Photo Editing
    • Luminar
    • Learn How to Use Lightroom Classic – Online Course
    • Photoshop Tutorials
  • Gallery
  • Resources
    • Free Basics for Beginners Course
    • Free Portrait Photography for Beginners Course
    • Lightroom Presets
    • Texture Pack for Photoshop, Luminar
    • Webinars
    • YouTube Channel
Home » Night Photography » Light Painting Experiments to Improve Your Photography
Light Painting Experiments to Improve Your Photography

Light Painting Experiments to Improve Your Photography

by Matt Chesebrough | Last Updated: April 26, 2021

Share28
Tweet
Pin72
WhatsApp
Email

What is light painting and why you should know is a pretty bold statement, right? Well, if you are looking for a way to better understand how light influences your photographs then this is an article for you.

Although it’s usually a technique for night photography, I believe that experimenting with light painting can help you improve not only your night shot but your daytime photos as well. 

Spoiler alert, the improvements come from understanding how the direction of light can change the look of your subject. 

In this article, I’ll walk you through a couple of different experiments to demonstrate the basics of light painting and explain some of the science going on behind the scenes. It’s a little long, so I’ll do my best to get the basics out of the way first before diving deeper.

What you’ll learn

Learn the basics of light painting

  • What is it?
  • How to get started
  • How it can help you improve your night photography
  • Add some terminology to your photography library (Inverse-square law)

Without further ado, let’s get started. 

What is light painting?

The term light painting is really appropriate because you are doing just that – painting with light. Instead of paint you use light and capture it with a camera instead of a canvas. If you haven’t tried light painting before it’s really fun.

What does that mean? Simply put, you use an external light source to creatively illuminate a subject in the dark.
Words are great, but light painting is easier to understand with pictures. 

In this pair of night photos below, what differences do you see?

night photo of a stone arch lit with only ambient moon light

The image above is an exposure using just available light from the moon.

By contrast, the image below was created by using a small light to accentuate the details and textures of the rock. That image is an example of light painting.

night photo of same stone arch but with a small light source illuminating it for effect

What do you think of the result?

This is light painting. 

Why do light painting?

If you are already comfortable working with your camera, then light painting is a fun, creative, and challenging way to push yourself and your photography.

Much like taking photographs in black and white is helpful for understanding contrast in a scene, light painting helps you really understand how to use light to showcase your subject. As a landscape photographer, I enjoy using light painting while composing my night photography images.

Light painting at Lake Tahoe beach at night with stars in the sky
Lake Tahoe beach light painting
light painting lake tahoe bonsai rock
Bonsai Rock light painting
light painting Mobius arch with Milky Way clearly visible in the sky behind
Mobius Arch and the Milky Way with light painting

Let’s Experiment

*** WARNING – ENTERING MANUAL MODE (It’s okay, you’ve got this) ***

Now that you know what light painting is and why you should add it to your list of things to try, let’s dig into the process.

In order to help you better understand the basics of light painting, I’ve conducted a couple of experiments.

While still sheltering in place means limiting how far I can roam from home, it also allows for a good first lesson. You don’t need to go very far to find a place to practice light painting. You just need an area that is not well lit and is mostly dark. 

For this article, I walked five minutes to a dog park near my home. There I found a group of three trees that I chose as the subject for these experiments.

how to do light painting step one first shot straight out of the camera without painting or editing
Straight out of the camera – no light painting, no editing.

The first image above, is straight out of the camera. I’m sharing this because I want you to see that there is still some light entering the scene.

In this case, the light is coming from a series of lights along a nearby sidewalk. Here is an edited version that I brightened up to make it easier for you to see the overall scene.

same photo at night edited to show details of the scene
Edited version – lightened so you can see details of the scene.

Important first step – focusing your camera at night

Before jumping into the experiment any further, I wanted to take a moment to share the easiest way to focus at night. Since you already have some form of external light with you, point it at the subject (get someone to hold the light for you if possible).

With the subject illuminated, either focus manually (using Live View press the little zoom or magnify button and go to 5x or 10x view to see better) or automatically and then lock the focus for the rest of that shoot.

You can just switch the lens/camera to manual focus or use back button focus if you know how to do that.

If you move the camera, you will need to focus again.

NOTE: You also need to use a tripod for this kind of photography! You cannot do this handheld.

focusing your camera on the subject at night, focus where the subject is lit
Focus where the subject is lit up.

If you don’t have a helper or anyone with you, put your light source (I was using a Lume Cube) into the scene, then focus on the important part of your subject. Then leave the focus and lens alone. As an added precaution, consider taping the focus ring to prevent it from moving.

lume cube is a lightweight rechareable LED light for light painting or otherwise lighting your scene
This is a Lume Cube – a small, lightweight, rechargeable LED light.

Experiment details

The first experiment uses a constant light source pointed in a fixed direction. The second experiment uses a constant light source that is swept in an arc toward the subject from different locations. 

Experiment parameters

Subject: three trees

Equipment used:

  • Camera gear: Sony a6000, 16-70mm f4.0 lens, tripod, shutter release cable
  • Light source: Fenix TK32 flashlight, Lume Cube 2.0, light stand, bonus – LED panel
  • Miscellaneous: a tape measure to make sure the lights and camera are roughly equidistant, a notepad to record camera settings, and a pen.
lume cube on tripod for lighting your subject
flashlight for painting with light

Camera settings (unless noted as otherwise):

  • Shooting mode – Manual
  • ISO 100
  • f/8.0
  • Exposure time (shutter speed) 30 seconds

Experiment #1: Static light source

In this first test, the light will remain in one spot during the camera exposure.

static light source lighting diagram 1 with light remaining in one spot

Objectives:

  • Study how light falls on the subject from different directions.
  • Observe how the power of the light decreases farther from the source.

For this part of the experiment, I took one photograph from each of the four flashlight locations so you can compare them separately. 

Position #1 – Light on the camera

In the image below, the Lume Cube was placed in the camera’s hot shoe. Notice how the subjects lack a sense of depth.

This is the same as when you take a selfie with your phone and the flash fires into your face. The picture is usually not the most flattering version of you. The same is true for the trees.

static light source lighting diagram showing using lume cube light on camera hot shoe
example photo lighting subject with light on camera hot shoe and the lack of dimension from a single light source

Take away lesson here: Light direct from the camera angle is flat, and the subject lacks depth and dimension.

Position #2 – Light on camera right

By moving the light from camera position to 90 degrees to the right, creates a different look to the scene.

Notice that the tree which is closest to the light source is a lot brighter than the one on the left. This difference in brightness can be calculated using the inverse-square law.

For a more detailed explanation of this concept watch this video.

Also notice that the tree appears to have more texture than when the light was in position one, camera angle. There is also a feeling of more depth in the scene here.

lighting diagram 2 showing light source coming from camera right
example image showing the subject having lighting coming from the camera right

Take away lessons here: The farther you move the light source from the subject, the less contrast there is on the subject. In addition, side lighting brings out more texture in the subject.

Position #3 – Light behind the subject, pointed back at the camera

Tip – Make sure to block the light source from directly hitting the camera. Otherwise, you won’t see much of the scene or you’ll get lens flare.

example image of subject lit from the the back pointed towards the camera
See how the light is visible at the edge of the frame on the left here? That’s what happens if the light source is aimed back toward the camera.

There are plenty of creative photos where the light was pointed directly at the camera, but that’s not the point of this exercise. With this setup, most of the details in the trees are lost to shadow. It’s not the best direction from which to position your only source of light.

Think of this as taking a photo of a loved one standing in front of a window during the day. They are likely to just be a silhouette (dark figure against the bright windows).

The same is true here.

lighting diagram showing light source behind the subject facing towards the camera
example photo showing a backlit subject looking silhouetted

Take away lessons here: Backlight will silhouette your subject.

Position #4 – Light on camera left

Completing our trip around the trees, you should notice similar behavior and results to that of the light coming from the right. This time the tree on the left is slightly brighter than the one on the right. 

lighting diagram showing light source on camera left
example photo of subject lit from the left
second example photo with the ground a little brighter
Another frame with the light on the left. Notice the ground is brighter, as is the branch in the tree. Sometimes you don’t get it perfect the first time, so keep trying until you get the effect you want. 

This completes the first experiment. I hope you were able to see the effect of the light fall-off and how changing the direction of your light source can impact the look of the subject and your image.

Take away lessons here: light from either side of the subject creates the same effect. Try both and see which is best for your subject.

Composite

One of the best things to remember about light painting is that you don’t need to get everything right in one take. By combining each of the individual shots from each lighting direction, you are in charge of your own masterpiece.

See the following image for my quick composite of the first experiment.

composite photo of all shots combined using a photo editor like photoshop

To see how to do that in Photoshop check out this article and video: Video: How to combine multiple light painted images in Photoshop

Experiment #2 – The sweep

Objectives:

  • Reenforce the concept of the inverse square law
  • See how you can shape the light differently by hand as opposed to using a fixed light position
lighting diagram showing lighting from all directions as the light source is painted through the scene by sweeping the light
These are the positions used for the light source in part two of this experiment, sweeping the light.

The sweep refers to moving the light source in a sweeping motion across part of the scene. In this case, I’m using my flashlight to more evenly light portions of the foreground.

Like the previous experiment, I present a series of photographs taken while lighting the scene from different locations. See the following figure for an overview.

handheld light source Fenix TK32 flashlight for light painting
Light source – Fenix TK32 (my go-to flashlight).

Handheld

Like the previous experiment, starting with the light source at the camera position, I worked my way around the circle.

While the lighting may not be exactly consistent from location to location, that’s okay. Light painting in this way is going to yield slightly different results each time because each pass is going to be different.

Position #1 – sweep from the camera position

Shining the light from near ground level directly below the camera. The purpose of this is to add some contrast and texture to the foreground.

lighting diagram showing the painting of light in the foreground in a sweeping motion
example photo showing the foreground lit up with the light

Position #2 – sweep from 45 degrees on the right of the camera

In the photo below, you can see how the light sweeps across the foreground of the scene. Notice that I didn’t get the light beam evenly spread throughout the motion. This left the darker section in the lower right corner of the image.

lighting diagram showing sweeping of light in the foreground but at 45 degrees to the right lighting a different section of the photo
example photo showing light painted onto right area of foreground

Position #3 – sweep from 45 degrees behind the subject on the right

The purpose of lighting this area and the next one is to provide some depth to the scene. You’ll notice that you can see the green grass in the background and the slope of the landscape leading to the tree trunks.

light painting diagram showing a portion behind the scene being lit with the flashlight as it's swept
example photo of light painting

Position #4 – sweep from 45 degrees behind the subject on the left

As with the previous light location, I wanted to add some depth to the scene. Additionally, part of this light sweep highlighted small sections of the tree trunks. This helps them stand out from the surrounding darkness.

light painting diagram showing other half of scene behind subject lit
example painting with light photo

Position #5 – sweep from 45 degrees on the left of the camera

Finally, by moving to the light to the left of the camera I was able to fill in the remaining section of the foreground.

painting with light diagram for remainder of the scene
example photo

Creating the final composite image

As in the first experiment, I combined the different lighting angles to create a composite image in Photoshop.

There is another addition to this image, however. I pointed my flashlight at each individual tree to help them stand out from the background. You can see this additional step after the composite image.

final composite photo of entire scene painted with light, edited together with photoshop or other photo editing software

What did you notice about the results of these two experiments?

Did you see how changing the position of the light source also changed the direction of the shadows? How did the depth of the scene change from having the light coming from the camera position versus coming from off-camera?

Do you have a better understanding of the inverse-square law now? What would you do if you wanted to combine some of the results together?

There’s a lot to think about in regards to light painting. But the great thing is there is no pressure to do it all at once. If you liked running through these experiments I would encourage you to try some light painting out for yourself.

Reading about light painting (or any topic for that matter) is great, but you’ll learn so much more by actually doing it yourself.

Bonus material

In closing, I wanted to share a few fun images that were not part of the main experiment.

First is an image of just light painting on the trees. I used my flashlight while standing behind the camera, and swept the beam up and down each trunk in order to make them brighter. This is the image I used in the final composite above.

tree trunks painted with light to make them stand out more

In the next series, I held the flashlight to my chest while walking away from the camera. You’ll notice my feet appear everywhere in the shot. There are better ways to achieve this look, but I wanted to goof around.

There are a few instances where I was turned toward the camera as I wove through the trees. So the important thing to learn here is that if you want to create this type of pattern, you need to avoid aiming the light source back at the camera. If the camera can see the light then it is captured.

creative light painting photo created by walking through the scene with flashlight
creative light painting photo created by walking through the scene with flashlight
creative light painting photo created by walking through the scene with flashlight

One last tip: If you want to do light painting and not be seen in the image, wear dark clothes (grey/black).

Light Painting Photography Tutorial

In conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this article. I had a lot of fun putting together these experiments for you.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what light painting is, and how easy it is to get started. The next step for you is to go have some fun light painting.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment area below. Also, if you don’t mind sharing, I’d love to see what you create. Show me your light painting images too!

Until next time. See you on the trail.

matt chesebrough light painting photographer
Share28
Tweet
Pin72
WhatsApp
Email

About Matt Chesebrough

Matt is a professional dream chaser. He stepped away from a successful engineering career to become a professional landscape and commercial photographer. Over the last two years, Matt has traveled the world chasing light and capturing one-of-a-kind landscapes.

He enjoys sharing his adventures with family, friends, and strangers along the way. When he is not hiking to a remote location, Matt enjoys volunteering for local and national conservation organizations. His mission is to share the world with people, inspire a sense of adventure, and to make a difference for the planet.

You can see more of his work on his website www.mattchesebrough.com, connect with him on Facebook or follow him on Instagram.

ultimate photography bundle

There’s NEVER been a better time to get Luminar Neo. With this Ultimate Photography Bundle promotion, you recieve the Luminar Neo software, hundreds of LUT’s, Skies, presets and overlays, a Landscape Photography editing course, a Drone photography course and my very own Portrait Fundamentals course, along with a number of other items.

Click here to Get $1019 worth of photography software and courses for an 85% savings.

Digital Photo Mentor is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate Digital Photo Mentor earns from qualifying purchases.
luminar neo course

Learn How to Use Luminar Neo

Unleash your creativity with Luminar Neo! Click here to learn how to use Luminar Neo,this powerful software for stunning photo edits. Over 16 hours of video tutorials and example photos to use.

Top Beginner Articles

  • Is Luminar Neo the Best Beginner Photo Editing Software?
  • Avoid these 9 beginner photography mistakes
  • 7 Tips for Beginner Photographers
  • Top 15 Photography Accessories under $25
  • How to choose the best digital camera for you
  • 5 Photography Ideas for When There's Nothing Interesting to Shoot
  • 5 mistakes beginner photographers make while using a wide angle lens and how to avoid them
  • 9 Tripod Mistakes Ruining Your Images and Putting Your Camera at Risk
  • Long Exposure Photography

Top Intermediate Articles

  • 10 Camera Settings and Equipment Tips for Portrait Photography
  • Best Photo Editing Software Reviewed
  • Lightroom Alternative: Is Luminar the answer?
  • Top 15 Photography Accessories under $25
  • How to Use a Gray Card for Custom White Balance and Metering
  • Night Photography Settings – Guide to Getting the Best Exposure

Learn Photography Basics

Yes, you can learn to take better photos! It’s my passion to help you learn the photography basics and take better pictures. It’s also the same reason I teach workshops, do photo travel tours, and have online photography courses available.

Enroll in our free photography basics for beginners course, or 12-part portrait photography course, also free.

Recent Photography Articles

  • How To Harness the Power of Double Exposure Photography
  • Stunning Night Photo Edits With Luminar Neo
  • Six ways to make your travel photography stand out
  • Why Street Photography Is So Difficult And How To Overcome It
  • Review of Sigma’s 56mm F/1.4 Lens – Is It Worth It?

Useful Links

  • Beginner Photography
  • Intermediate Photography
  • Photography Challenges
  • Photography Tips
  • Photo Editing
  • Resources
  • Recommended Amazon Products
  • Course Login
  • Workshops
  • Webinars
  • Contact
  • Write for Us

Copyright © 2023 Digital Photo Mentor · Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Disclaimer