Light painting is photographic technique which is used to light up an object or point directly at the camera with a handheld light source, and draw/paint whatever you desire. This is done by using a long exposure on the camera you use.

Step 1: Materials

Camera
Tripod (if none, improvise! if nothing to improvise with, stay steady!)
Dark room or any dark area
Light source(s) (flashlight, phone etc.)

If you'd like to only be behind the camera, you can have assistants to help out and paint for you, I had my brother, mom and grandma!

Step 2: Figuring Out Your Camera

If you are having trouble figuring out the settings, here is a diagram example of the camera I used, the Cannon EOS Rebel XSi DSLR. A DSLR is preferred in this photography but any camera is good to use as long as you know what you are working with.

I used these settings and you should too:

- a shutter speed between 11 to 30 seconds, if longer time is needed, use BULB mode (take as long as you want in BULB mode)

-an aperture between f/8 and f/32

-an ISO of 100 or 200

Make sure your exposure is in the middle (at 0)

Step 3: Process

Once you are ready, click the shutter button and paint with light! You can even put a coloured tissue on your light source to create different colours.