Frequently Asked Questions About Light Painting

There are certain questions in light painting that get asked over and over, and in this article I will attempt to answer all of the most reoccurring ones so I can save my breath and share this link. 

Question 1: "How is it that you aren't in the final light painting image?"

My Answer to this is fairly straightforward and it comes with a basic knowledge of the long exposure photography process, but I will offer a few pointers and a word of advice. 

These are long exposures captured in dark environments, and because of the fact that I am wearing dark clothing and moving throughout the exposure, I do not appear in the final image. Conversely, if I was to stay in the same area and wear bright clothing, or be lit directly by a light source, I would appear in the final capture.

The nuance here is the amount of ambient light present, so you would have to be moving a lot more if there was more light present in the environment, as in a capture taken at blue hour or if there was a bright full moon. Some of this can be mitigated with a much higher f-stop so that the light takes a bit longer to properly expose the scene.

My most important advice is to ninja up and wear all black, don't stay in the same spot for too long, and set your camera for the desired effect you'd like to see in the final image.

Question 2: "Can I use an iPhone / Samsung Galaxy / Pixel for light painting?"

The short answer to this is yes, you can use most smartphones to capture light paintings and long exposures. However, if you want the best results, there are a few things you should know before you begin. 

1. You'll need a tripod or at the very least, a mug or something heavy to rest your phone on so that it doesn't move during the capture. You'll also need the right camera settings or an app that will allow you to use the best features of your smartphone for light painting.

2. For iPhones there's 'NightCap Camera' & 'Slow Shutter Cam' App that let users mimic 'bulb mode'. Samsung has a 'Pro Mode' on their Galaxy phones that allows up to 30 second exposures, so you'll have to be a bit quicker. Google Pixel has a maximum of 16 second exposures via Night Sight mode so this would be the quickest light painting time of all the smartphones in terms of long exposure capabilities.

3. Now that we've discussed all the ways you can create light paintings using various smart phones, let's discuss some the limitations that come with small devices. The sensor size is much smaller and more sensitive than most mirrorless cameras, so you may need to adjust your light source accordingly to not blow out the sensor during a long exposure / light painting. For best results, use a very dim light for light painting with a phone camera and make sure to set and lock focus / exposure settings before you begin the capture.

Question 3: "How do you get a perfect focus in the dark?"

Getting a focus in the dark is an extremely important process to getting the best results with your light painting. It's a tough hurdle to overcome for beginners, but I'll go over a few techniques I've learned over the years so that any photographer can nail this every time.

One technique I like to use is to take the camera off the tripod and put a small light in it's place, then go to where I wanted my light painting in frame and focus from that area to the light on the top of the tripod. You could even autofocus on it and then turn it back to manual and re-set up your camera on the tripod. Now your light painting will be in focus.

Option two is to set up the camera on a tripod, turn the lens to manual focus, bring out a very bright LED and then zoom-focus on an object in the frame. Sometimes I will set up a few rocks in the center of the frame in the area I would like to create a light painting to make sure I have just the right centered location and can get back to my mark in the dark if I need to. Once you've done this, you should have a nice sharp focus.