Light Painting Photography
An immersive guide to light painting by Darren Pearson, the artist behind Dariustwin.
What is Light Painting?
Light painting is a photographic technique where long exposure photography is used to capture moving light within a scene. By keeping the camera’s shutter open for several seconds or minutes, an artist can “draw” with light - creating glowing shapes, figures, and environments that exist only in a single photograph.
Unlike digital illustration or compositing, true light painting is created in real physical space. Every line of light is performed by hand in front of the camera, often in darkness, using flashlights, LEDs, and custom-built light tools. The result is a unique blend of photography, performance, and visual art.
Light painting photography has evolved from early experimental work by artists like Picasso into a global art form practiced by photographers and visual artists around the world. Today, light painting is used to create everything from abstract patterns to fully formed characters, landscapes, and cinematic scenes.
Darren Pearson and the World of Dariustwin
Darren Pearson is a pioneering light painter and long-exposure photographer best known for creating the glowing skeletons, characters, and surreal scenes that have made Dariustwin one of the most recognizable names in modern light painting. For more than 19 years, Darren has helped shape the visual language of light painting photography, blending freehand performance, photography, and storytelling into a single frame.
Through Dariustwin, his work has reached millions of people around the world, appearing in viral films, gallery exhibitions, and major publications including National Geographic. From abandoned buildings and desert highways to forests, oceans, and city streets, Darren’s light paintings transform real-world locations into luminous, cinematic worlds created entirely in-camera.
Learn Light Painting
Light painting is both an art form and a technical craft. From camera settings and exposure techniques to building custom light tools and creating complex characters in-camera, mastering light painting requires patience, practice, and experimentation.
Dariustwin’s Light Painting Education series is one of the most in-depth free resources on light painting photography, created by Darren Pearson to help beginners and advanced artists alike bring their ideas to life.
Beginner's Guide to Light Painting
Light Painting Photography Gear Guide: From Cameras to Lights
Light Painting Explained: Why the Photographer Doesn’t Appear in Long Exposure Photos
How to Know Where to Shine Your Light When Light Painting (Beginner’s Guide)
Light Painting Stories & Behind the Scenes
Light painting is more than a technique - it’s a process of exploration, travel, collaboration, and discovery. Through the Light Journal, Darren shares the stories behind his most iconic light paintings, from abandoned buildings and desert highways to forests, oceans, and surreal dreamscapes.
These behind-the-scenes stories reveal how each light painting is created, what inspired it, and what went into capturing a single long-exposure moment in the real world.
18 Years of Light Painting – The Evolution of Dariustwin’s Art
Behind the Scenes of Viral Light Painting Photography & Animation
United by Light: 9 Years of Light Painting Friendship & Collaboration
A Year in Light: My Favorite Light Paintings of 2025
A Brief History of Light Painting
Light painting has its roots in the earliest days of photography. In the late 1800s, photographers began experimenting with long exposures and moving light sources to record motion and time in a single frame. In the 20th century, artists like Pablo Picasso famously created light drawings captured by photographer Gjon Mili, helping introduce light painting as both an artistic and photographic medium.
As cameras and light sources evolved, so did the art form. Photographers around the world began using flashlights, LEDs, and custom-built tools to create abstract patterns, calligraphic strokes, and eventually more complex figures and scenes. What began as experimental photography grew into a global creative movement.
In the modern era, light painting has expanded beyond simple shapes into full visual storytelling. Artists like Darren Pearson and the Dariustwin project have pushed light painting into narrative, character-based, and cinematic worlds - creating glowing skeletons, surreal environments, and immersive scenes entirely in-camera through freehand performance and long exposure photography.
Experience Light Painting
Light painting is meant to be experienced - not just read about. Through Dariustwin, Darren Pearson’s light paintings come to life as fine-art prints, films, installations, and immersive visual stories shared around the world.
From glowing skeletons on desert highways to surreal figures emerging from forests, oceans, and abandoned spaces, each light painting is created in real locations using long exposure photography and freehand performance - captured entirely in-camera.
You can explore Darren’s work through gallery-quality prints, short films, behind-the-scenes projects, and exhibitions that bring the art of light painting into physical and digital spaces.
