Light Graffiti
By Lucas R.
6 Jul 2008
The first thing that you're going to want to do is set up your photography equipment in a dark area, or wait until night to set up. A tripod is essential for Light Graffiti because the shutter speed is going to be set very, very low. You are also going to need a small light, I used a head lamp that I bought at a camping supply store. You're going to want to set your shutter speed to about 15 or 20 seconds, your ISO to 100, and your aperture to about 8.0.
Now you need to make sure that whoever is going to be drawing the Light Graffiti understands that everything they draw needs to be reversed. For example, if you decided to write your name than you would need to write everything in reverse, including the letters. Now you are ready to start shooting, you have between the time that the shutter opens and the time that the shutter closes to draw with your light. In some cases you might need a bit more time to draw, if so all you need to do is lower the shutter speed. Some cameras can have a shutter speed as low as 30 seconds, If your camera's shutter speed doesn't go as low as you need it to than you're out of luck. You can also do some pretty cool things to your photos in post. Here are some ideas:
1. Play around with the Hue and Saturation Filter to change the color of the light
2. Apply a Glow filter to the image if it's not bright enough for you
3. If you can see a blurred out you in the background then you might want to adjust the brightness and contrast
That's pretty much it, Try experimenting with different possible things to draw and have fun!
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