Photography is the process of capturing light. More accurately, photography can be defined as the 'art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (such as film or an optical sensor)'! But the word comes from two Greek words - photos and graphos. The literal translation of these two Greek words are light and writing. So it could be said that photography is 'writing with light' (slight variations on the literal meaning are available depending on which web site you look at but this one fits the purpose) ...
'Writing with Light' is almost the title of the talk and demonstration that Michelle Essenson gave us. The actual title was 'Light Painting Magic'. I suppose painting and writing could almost be considered the same thing, when all said and done both processes produce something that can be viewed and hopefully evokes some imaginative thought. So where does the 'magic' come from? Well, quite simply it comes from not knowing what was used to produce the images shown! You can see that some light source has produced a pattern - either a regular shape or a completely abstract irregular one - but what has been used to produce the light?
Techniques in light painting include moving a light source during a long exposure to illuminate a subject or space, shining a light source at the camera and moving it to draw or paint and moving the camera during an exposure of light sources. So the next time you inadvertently leave your shutter on a long exposure and accidently trigger the shutter don't assume you have a 'dud' shot - check it out and you might have a stunning piece of abstract work (or not ... !) But at least you will have dipped you toe into this genre of photography. You could also trigger your shutter intentionally while out walking at night to get a more controlled and desired image.
Believe it or not light painting is not new! It's history can be traced back to 1889 with lights strapped to people which led, in later years, to it's use in early 'time and motion' studies. More information on the history of light painting can be found in the link on the right. It can be seen that a number of the great artists, both photographers and artists have experimented with this genre of 'art'.
Those with a 'Blue Peter' bent will have a field day with this arm of photography because anything goes. All you need is a torch (or a number of them) some coloured plastic bottles, possibly some coloured gels, cardboard tubing and some sticky tape (additionally you can use LED light strips). Then you just let your imagination go wild and produce any manner of 'light source' from any old junk. Get an old bike wheel, stick a rod through the middle of it and attach a strip of led lights around the rim. Put it on the ground, let it rotate on the axel and 'hey presto' you have produced a light dome! The same wheel can be used suspended on a string and you now have a light source that will produce and orb which might be a bit more accurate than spinning a single light while turning around on the spot.
This talk from Michelle certainly provided ideas for home-made light sources and was delivered in an enthusiastic way - it's hardly surprising that she provides light painting workshops for the Royal Photographic Society.
There are so many different types of light sources that can be made that the only limitation in this genre of photography is the extent of ones own needs and, of course, imagination.
27 February 2021