The art of light painting is a process of creating imagery using long exposures and moving either the light source or camera. It is also referred to as light writing or when created on the streets it is often called light graffiti. When light painting is captured using time-lapse video, the results can be amazing.
“Paris by Light” is an wonderful example of light painting in a video produced by Mehdi Idir of Manifeste Productions and Marko93, the French “Kailligraffikzer”.
German artist LICHTFAKTOR created some beautiful light graffiti on the streets of cities in Germany as part for his “Energy In Motion” project.
A number of graffiti artists have been tagging everything thought to be impossible without being caught. Well — it’s actually not illegal for them. They’re not using paint. As it turns out, time-lapse photography isn’t just for blooming flowers, skyscapes, or brake lights anymore. Termed Light Graffiti, tag artists are taking their colour to an all new level.
Let There Be LightUsing an exposure of about ten-to-thirty seconds and a tripod for best results, Light Graffiti artists start at the first click. Glowsticks, flashlights, reflectors, and even torches have been used as mediums to create all sorts of designs and tags, as the artist becomes a ghost of a blur, if visible at all.
Here’s more of LICHTFAKTOR’s light painting art on Flickr and Behance.
Here’s a video of LICHTFAKTOR’s “Star Wars v Star Trek” that was created on the streets of London.
Thanks to Michael Raisanen & Joel for pointing us to the work of LICHTFAKTOR.
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- Laughing Squid Lucky 13 Light Painting Photos by Julian Cash
- Frank Chu Painting by Hugo Kobayashi at SFBC’s Winterfest 2008
- 1982 San Diego Comic Con Photos by Alan Light
- Live Painting of The Secret Room by Hugh D’Andrade
- Fore-Edge Painting Transforms the Edges of Books Into Works of Art
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmmm- I’m not sure what’s going on in those videos, but I fail to see how that can be accomplished in-camera. I don’t see how “time lapse” is relevant either?
There are clearly multiple frames being taken in a time-lapsed form, but that doesn’t negate the fact that all movement of a light source has to be done in a single exposure. So, in an assembled video, you will see movement of light, but not absolute persistance.
The only way I can think to do this is with 2 cameras right next to each other- one shooting in a time lapse fashion, the other shooting long-exposure. Then, you artificially stack all the long-exposure frames in an additive fashion and play it back along side the time-lapse?
Or maybe I just don’t get it :)
Dean Chamberlain creates fantastic light art as well…
http://www.deanchamberlain.com
This light painting is very cool. I would definitely be interested to learn more about the technique of how these artists are creating these works.
As the first comment mentions these videos appears to be a compilation of both long exposure and video. I would be very interested in watching some kind of workflow / technique video.
it is easy to produce a video this way, but it takes a long time to do it!
every picture takes 30 sec. we work with a frame rate between 6-8 pictures a sec. thats it.
wow!! That video in Paris is AMAZING!!! LOVE the music too!!