LIGHT-PAINTED PORTRAITS

James Paterson shows you how to create surreal portraits with a fibre-optic paint brush

- James Paterson

30 MINS Light painting isn’t a technique you’d normally associate with portraiture, but with a few simple skills you can create fantastically surreal people photos. You don’t need lots of gear for this either, just a tripod, a dark room, a willing subject, and a torch or other light-emitting device that you can use to ‘paint’ with.

When it comes to choosing a light source for your painting there are all sorts of torches, light wands and dedicated tools out there for you to choose from, but one of the most interesting is a fibre-optic brush. This is a technique inspired by the portraits of Gunnar Heilmann, who uses a fibre-optic light brush to incredible effect. The fibres split the beam from a normal torch into lots of tiny points of light that look wonderful when brushed and flicked over the course of a long exposure.

We bought our brush from www.rigu. co.uk for £25. Painting with the brush is rather addictive, as you can get a variety of results depending on whether you stroke across the face, dab it onto the skin or shine the light around your subject – so play around!

Whether capturing faces or any type of subject, the basics of light painting are the same. We’ll show you how to get set up for light painting by choosing the right exposure settings and controlling the light. It’s a fun technique that anybody can try, and it’s perfect for a dark evening at home – although you might want to close the curtains, as brushing a friend’s face with a torch in the dark might attract a few strange looks from the neighbours!

GET STARTED PREPARE TO PAINT

Get set up for long-exposure light painting in a dark room

1 TRIPOD