Drawing with Light
It’s really quite simple & the kids will have some summertime fun.
But before I get in to the tutorial I have to share with you this image I captured of the fields around our house. This is after all Project 52- so I need to share with you an image that was taken this past week 🙂 I just love the golden tones of this particular shot.
Okay- so now on to the fun stuff. First thing- you are going to need a tripod or some other steady surface to set your camera on because your shutter is going to be SLOW.
Settings for a DSLR should be set to Manual ISO 100 f/3.5-5 depending on how many people you have in your shot. SS 10-30 seconds.
For point & shoot style camera- choose the night or fireworks setting. You will have less control over the length of time your shutter stays open unless you have a manual setting & can follow the same settings as listed for DSLR. The key here is to not have a super deep depth of field so that you are keeping the people drawing out of focus. The shutter speed will depend on how much you want in the shot.
I found that using a flashlight with a click button on/off worked well. That way we could control when the light was on. You could use glow sticks if you like- but you will have to have the kids move them to behind their back’s when they are done drawing.
I had my son stand in front of me with the lights on- I took a single test shot to make sure I was in focus- you will need to manually focus. You may need a couple test shots for this. Once you get your focus- don’t move your tripod & try to have the kids keep their feet in one place even though their arms will be moving . This is part of the fun to see who can do all these crazy things with their hands while keeping their feet in one place.
Then we turned out the lights. I gave the countdown- when I said “GO” I pressed the shutter button & he clicked on the light- drew what he wanted to & then clicked it off when he was done. I found that even with the longer things he wanted to write- 15 seconds was more than enough time & we had extra time where the shutter was hanging open a lot of the time. So I just started adjusting the shutter speed accordingly.
It’s super fun to see how creative they get with the things they want to draw. We had shapes & then he tried to write messages.
OR- you can just flip the image in Photoshop if it’s too hard for them. My son liked the challenge of writing backwards.
If it’s too light out where you are – like it is for me (doesn’t get really dark until 10-10-:30 here in the summer) then you could do this in a dark garage.
Have fun- as far as processing, not much needs to be done to images like these.
That makes it even better in my book. I think I only sharpened these & sized for the web.
Give it a try- the kids will laugh until they are aching.
The P52 Details
* Post 1 photo or as many as you like each week on Mondays.
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Project 52
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