Sunday, May 29, 2016

Can You Make Light Graffiti With Any Camera?

Time-lapse exposure photographs that transform busy nighttime street scenes into glowing streamers demonstrate the basis of the techniques that underlie the art of light graffiti, also called light painting. Whereas early light painting documented repetitive motion in the workplace, the effect's dazzling potential soon transformed it into art. Most of today's cameras offer the capabilities necessary for the light artist's needs.

Time and Motion

    Early efficiency experts Frank and Lillian Gilbreth studied the repetitive tasks of the workplace, looking for prescriptive sequences that rendered jobs down to assembly-line precision. In 1914, they captured a set of time-lapse photographs to study on-the-job performance. Although their intent was documentary rather than artistic, their results serve as the first light paintings ever created. Artists from Man Ray to Gjon Mili transformed the methods into paintings with flashlights and camera flashes. What began as an experiment has transformed into serious artwork that can require an entire night to capture in a single camera exposure.

Working Methods

    Light graffiti's two basic methods both use a moving light source as their "paintbrush." To create light paintings with a static camera, the artist -- sometimes with a team of helpers -- uses flashlights, glow sticks, LEDs, laser pointers and even iPhone apps to provide streams of illumination in various colors. This technique typifies most of the serious, dedicated light painters' output. To capture light graffiti with a moving camera, the artist points the lens at a static light source and creates light patterns through her movements of the camera itself.

Technical Needs

    The long-exposure image serves as the basis for all light graffiti images. The photographer places his camera in "Manual" or "Bulb" mode, then opens the shutter and begins his light painting. Until he closes the shutter again, the camera continues to capture the effects of light through its optic system. Any camera that offers a manual-exposure mode can serve as the technical platform for light graffiti imagery.

Further Considerations

    Not every camera that can capture light graffiti offers an ideal tool for the artist. Any photographer who goes beyond the occasional light painting experiment wants a camera she can mount on a tripod. The long exposures the art form requires likewise demand a battery system that can support hours of continuous service. Because light painting uses a dark canvas, its images can fall prey to the digital noise that often plagues night photography, so the higher-quality the camera's optics and image sensor, the better the results.



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