Light can be used in many different and interesting ways. One example of how light can be used in a creative way is light graffiti, or better known as light painting. In a light painting the photographer used the low light conditions and the long shutter to his advantage. He moves the light source or the camera around. When you do this you get long streaks of light in your image and you can start drawing figures in it. So what ways are there to use light painting? How did it start? Those are a couple of things I'll be explaining in this article.

Laser graffiti or light painting has been around for ages. Almost as long as photography itself. Photography in itself is a form of light painting if you think about it. The photographic film or sensor in your camera has to catch the light coming from the outside to create an image. Without that light you wouldn't have a photograph. Pablo Picasso was one of the first artists to use this technique. He got a visit from photographer Gjon Mili and they both created the now famous photograph "Picasso draws a centaur in the air".

So what other styles of light painting are there?

Moving the light source is one of the most common techniques used in laser graffiti. You can really let your imagination go and you can create incredibly creative and impressive photographs. A couple of things that have been done are writing graffiti on a wall, paint faces on objects or create images with lines. This technique is works best if you use a long shutter speed so most photographers try this technique a night where there isn't a lot of light.

You can also create images by moving the camera itself. You can create very abstract pictures with this. This is more commonly referred as camera painting. For this technique you are using the camera as a paintbrush instead of the light source in the previous technique.

Projection is a third kind of light graffiti. For this technique the image is being projected onto a flat surface and you can paint on objects in real time. This is something for the die hard graffiti fans among us because you can get your tag or piece shown just about anywhere without doing something illegal. For this technique to work you'll need a laptop, a projector, a laser pen, a camera and a program called Laser tag 2.0. The program can be downloaded for free from the internet. The laser pointer is being tracked by the camera and the laptop translates this into an image. The projector shows what is being painted. You can write just about anywhere. Bridges, buildings,...You can create pieces that are ten times bigger than normal and it isn't permanent. A good example of laser graffiti is a couple of artists who wrote " I love Roma" onto the Colosseum.)

So now you know some techniques you can use to create cool light paintings or laser graffiti. As I said previously in the article you can download the program for free if you're interested in doing some laser graffiti. Have fun with it and let your imagination go. If you want to learn more check out my blog.