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How to Light Paint

Ever found yourself in a situation where your flash isn't enough,?  Or your flash throws up those mystical orbs which quickly prompt you to think that there is another dimension? Or you don’t even have a flash?  Well, we have a solution that is used by many cavers, explorers and people who find themselves in a dark places needing light for the photos.  This guide will help you to produce images like the one below...

Vickers Deep Shelter, Weybridge

Following the simple steps, you should be able to easily use your torch to effectively paint a dark space with lots of light.  In case you have missed it, the basic kit you need is listed on the right. 

1)  Firstly, set up your tripod and compose your picture (if that wasn’t obvious enough), like in the picture above.  If your camera is struggling to focus in the dark, either use manual focus, or use your torch to provide some lighting to assist the camera.  Shooting with your camera in manual mode is the easiest way to to do this as it gives you control over everything.  We normally use 30 second exposure and a wide Aperture, this way we can collect the most light.

2)  Now turn on your torch and release the shutter.  Now your shutter is open, you can begin to carefully paint the walls, as if you were painting the Sistine Chapel, but with but with less detail.  The photo above shows some light painting in action.  But be careful not to linger on a single area for too long, or covering the same spot repeatedly or you will burn out the exposure.   Smooth stokes will allow for an even exposure across the photo, waving your torch around like in a mad fit does work, but not too well...

3)  Now, we use the police tech torch (well, one of us does) for two reasons, firstly, it produces a nice white circular light that requires no white balance adjustments.  AND, can be switched between a flood and a spot light.  This is very useful because you can sweep the area close to the camera very quickly with the flood light, and then with a bit more time use the spot light to pick out the detail in the distance (objects that are further away require more light - I could explain the inverse square law…nah).  4)  Alternatively, you can use a search blaster, which will effectively light up any dark space with a very powerful sun like torch.  This technique is good in a hurry, but is very prone to burning images out nicely.

There isn’t much more to it than that, but light painting is very much a trial and error affair; we regularly delete images that are crap with horrible exposures on the wrong parts of the images.  But with a little patience, some cursing, you should be able produce images that you are pleased with.  And you can then get creative to use the torch to pick out single items in a dark environment...

A final photo for you...and kindly, details are included.

Fan Bay Deep Shelter, Dover
Nikon D40, Sigma 10-20 @10mm, f/8, 30 second Exposure, ISO200