Long Exposure Light Sculpture

This project has become one of my all time favorite projects. I have had a love for Long Exposure photography for a long time and I deeply enjoy engaging in the art. But for me Long Exposure photography can start to feel very static and I felt like I wanted to build my own dynamic sculptures to shoot. After thinking about what I wanted to build for an afternoon I put myself to work building a simple device that would produce interesting and engaging designs. I hope that from the images you can see my effort was a success!

Ultimately the most rewarding thing for me about this project is sharing it with the world. This is a very easy to construct project and very affordable on many budgets due to the flexibility in its design. We hope you enjoy this article, and let us know if you do this project by contacting us at jaredb)at(inventgeek.com.

Step 1 Parts, Bits and Bobs

For this project we will need a handful of parts. I used just stuff i had laying around. This is really a great part scavenging project!

Parts you will need: (conceptual)
• The main Frame
• Motors and battery packs
• Armatures And Counter Weights.
• Leds and Defuses
• Fasteners ( zip ties and screws)


PVC Pipe and Fittings:
For this project I wanted to focus on budget being a priority and ultimately that drove my choice to use PVC for this build. PVC Pipe is available at any home improvement store and is very inexpensive. We used 3 one inch “T” fittings and roughly 14 feet of PVC pipe to create the basic frame we built. This cost us 5.00

Aluminum Main Arm:
For the main arm on our Light Sculpture we used one half inch aluminum “U” Channel due to its strength, rigidity and its light weight. This cost us 5.00 for 1 four foot length.

Wood Secondary Arm:
For our secondary arm we are using a one half inch pine wood dowel at 36 inches long. Pine or any other light material with good rigidity will work well as a secondary arm. Cost 1.00


Geared Motors:
For this project we will need to use a couple Geared motors. Geared motors provide us with 2 highly beneficial features, the move slowly and depending on the gear ratios you can get a good deal of torque out of them to move a heavy load. It is ideal to use a smaller gear motor to power the second arm to reduce the amount of counter weights needed on this light frame. Est Cost Free - 20.00


Sprocket:
To create a simple and strong connection to the aluminum arm we will be using a sprocket that is compatible with the drive shaft of our motor. It is a good idea to use a sprocket with an even number of teeth for this if possible

Battery Packs:
For this project I chose to use two battery packs for the motors, a 2 and a 4 battery style pack with standard 9v connectors on them for easy replacement. Both packs I picked up at our local over priced electronic supply vendor for 6.00 total.

Screws:
For this project we will be connecting the sprocket to our aluminum arm with a couple ½ inch long 8-32 screws and nuts. Est cost .50


Zip Ties:
The majority of the connection points in this build will be fastened with zip ties. We chose to use zipties because they are cheap, easy to fasten and easy to remove so we can reconfigure the design this produces with ease. Est Cost 1.00


LED's:
For this project we will be using some standard 5mm leds. The colors are your choice but I highly recommend using some RGB Fading LED’s for a great effect! Est Cost 3.00-5.00

Ping Pong Balls (optional):
So the final part we used in some of our shots are simple ping pong balls. These simply help to defuse the light of the led so that if the LED is not pointed at the camera it is still visible. This is good for 3D configurations. Est cost 1.00