The winner for the Light Painting Photography Flower Themed Contest is… Ivan Lucio and Javier Jimenez a.k.a. Riders of Light for the wonderful image above.  Ivan provided a great look at all the steps that it took to create this winning image, check out the write up below!

By Ivan Lucio: Until today we had not shown any photograph of the making of this work. I think it’s a good time to show the amount of time it takes to get to a result like this. We did this session with our friends Dario Cuesta and Miguel Gomez, the inspiration came from the spectacular location. It is a country house that although it was not in use, it was not abandoned, so we were lucky to get permission from the owner to go to take our photographs there. We wanted to create a light plant because the house reminded us of a mushroom and it seemed to us that it could integrate very well some type of light flower in front of this beautiful house. We only had to start designing our light plant, we did not have anything clear what its shape would be. We knew the colors we wanted to use, green to match the mushroom house and a pink to give it a good contrast, so it was time to start to practice the branches and see how the light strokes worked. Here are a few of our first practice shots.

We decided to combine 2 different flashlight modes that we thought could be make the image much better. We used a continuous light and strobe light, the flashlight used was the Klarus RS11, it has these 2 modes with separate buttons.   The tools to paint the plant were 2 plexiglass rod with its adapter and some round methacrylate filters.

The camera we used was an Olympus OMD EM1 Mark II, with a 7mm wide-angle lens, all the tests were done with a very short exposure time so as not to waste a lot of time since it was very cold, as you can see the sky is totally dark in these first tests for that reason.

You can see photo after photo we tried to improve the type of trace, we were discarding some things and adding others. Seeing that we were already liking how the plant was looking we began to test the lighting of the house little by little. We keep trying new ways!

  We decided to include in the ground some points of light in the shape of a triangle, when we tried and we liked it a lot. We made these points of light with some boxes of colored LEDs that we placed well placed on the ground. Below is a photograph of this tool that we use a lot when we need fixed continuous light. At this point in the tests, perhaps 2 hours had passed, many times people do not know the work behind creating a single image! Remember that it was also very cold and there were  more and more tests that we did that you don’t see here. We also tried to see if we could include some sparkles but we didn’t like it so we discarded that idea.

While we were testing the exposure for the sky we found an incredible surprise that we had not planned! The polar star was just above the house!!! WOW! We found that we could have a beautiful photograph with a star trail around the house, we had not planned this and but we could not let the idea escape! This was the last test before launching into the final photograph, as you can see, all the lines are already in order and the mushroom house masterfully illuminated by Dario, with the Fenix FD41 flashlight. At this point, it was time to configure the camera, the settings that we used were:
Live Composite Mode
F 5,6
ISO 500
Exposure Time 60”

We hope you liked this work and that it inspires you to create your light plants, which do not have to be so complex, you can do very beautiful things like these others

You can follow us on these pages and social networks:  IG @riders_of_Light    web : Ridersoflight.com  IG @ivan_lucio_Light_Painting   web: Ivanlucio.es

For this winning image The Riders of Light will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.

The winner for the “Tree of Light” Light Painting contest is ROM Light Painting for this magical image created in 310 seconds using a variety of creative DIY light painting tools! Here is what Romain had to say about this magical work of art!

Concept:
I love making light paintings photos paying homage to nature. This is a big part of my works. I find it hard to do without her and I find her beautiful. Trees are very symbolic, they plant their roots deep in the earth, and grow ever higher, towards the sky. They represent life and also allow us to breathe. When I discovered light painting, in 2009, I also discovered the works of Michael Bosanko, who made magnificent images of light painting with trees of light. His photos intrigued me and inspired me a lot. I did many light trees in my works, but one of my better attempts is this one I think. I made this image in the south of France. This day (night), I met Philippe Reyne, a french photographer who lives near this place. He kept me company and we talked a lot at the same time. It was a great night because I made two of my best photos on this evening (joined with the cat near the tree).

Location:
Saint Joseph Sanctuary (Roussas – France) Technical details
Gear: Nikon D610, Nikkor 24/85mm F/3.5-4.5,tripod, IR remote
Camera Settings: F/7.1 ISO400
Exposure Time: 310 Seconds With a cold white balance.

Light Painting Tools:
For this photo I used different kind of lights: – To draw the tree: I used a white cold cathode tool (DIY). It’s a great tool that I use often but it is very brittle. I regularly change the cathode because I broke it regularly. You can do a similar light effect with a methacrylate (plexiglass) tube, but maybe less fine in the drawing.
I quickly turn the light on and off multiple time drawing in the same time. At first the roots, then the body, then branches. My body help me to know where and what part I draw.
– Greenery: Green laser with methacrylate (plexiglas) tip (DIY). Here again I turn on and off multiple times and move (fastly) at the same time into the part of light branches.
– Halo: EL Wire
– Little points or traits: Little keychain led
– Points on the ground: Light garland. I change it position and turn on and off multiple times.

If you would like to see more of Romain’s light painting photography please check out his Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channel!

For this winning image Romain will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.

The winner of the Kaleidoscope Themed Light Painting Contest is Stéphane Babatasi for the incredible and complicated Light Painting Photograph Below! Read on for all the details on how Stéphane created this extraordinary image!

Stéphane had this to say about his winning image:
“This image has been created during LFLP session in 2019 (www.lflp.fr) using a kaléidoscope gratefully offer by Olivier Faÿ few days ago. He is well-known as a kaléidoscope master for long time since then, he also gave me few tips on how to use the kaléidoscope.”

Here we are, down there, ready to take part to an amazing session above the city of lights called KTALIGHT session N°8. The light crew was 100% LFLP members (Yoan aka Yoyo,, Audrey aka Pom’s and Juls aka Juls El Presidente). The most difficult part of the job was to cautiously protect the kaléiodoscope during the quarry exploration. We quickly found an old limestone gallery that perfectly fit for an idea I got to use the kaléidoscope.

First step : create the light form using the kaléidoscope ; one of us hold tight the kaléidoscope during another one move orange light source on each angle of the K. After few tries we knew exactly how and where should be created the form.

Second step : create the model ; I use a lantern I design with a radio command attached in my back. My left hand holds the command in my back. This is a kind of auto-backlighting…

Third step : A mate use a small scanner (orange tint) to make the face and the hand appear It was important to precisely choice the color of each lamp to simulated the reflexion of the light form on the wall and on the model.

Gear To create this image:
Canon 5D Mark
17mm TS F/4
Manfrotto tripod
Kaléidoscope design by Olivier Faÿ
Lantern with radio command
Mini scanner
Scripter orange
1 or 2 LP mates Patience

Camera setting : Iso 100 ; f/11 ; 62 sec ; no focus or aperture changing during the shoot!

Scroll down for a couple more from this shoot and to see even more of Stephane’s Light Painting work check out his FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and/or Flickr

For this winning image Stephane will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.

The winner of the Abstract Light Painting Photography Contest for August 2020 is… Fran Lojo for this infinite wavy line abstract Light Painting that was created using a classic Light Painting Tool of El Wire with a bit of camera rotation and some packing materials… read on for all the details!   “The abstract image was created over the floor of my house, on top of a black cardboard using an abstract ‘device’ that could be called… the ‘Electric Light Wire Weird Grill’ xD. It’s just a simple piece of packing plastic, which is shaped like tubes, through which I placed a pair of electric light wires, forming a kind of grill’s resistance. The two colors were orange, and light blue, seeking a nice contrast using complementary colors.” “The image, indeed, it’s a simple camera rotation technique, lens cap every 90 degrees and about 20 seconds of exposure between each rotation. Finally, a little crop to fill the entire frame with lines.” Passing the EL-wires through the plastic tubes, they generate reflections that, when crossing each other, seems to generate an effect of depth, like infinite lines crossing in at different backgrounds,  seems to me something like those infinite led mirrors, maybe. And that’s it, that’s the secret, deflated packing plastic wrap…LoL You can see more of Fran’s wonderful work on his Instagram  

For this winning image Fran will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.

The winner for the “A Message Of Thanks” themed Light Painting Photography contest is Rob D’Angelo for the simply great image in a series of positive messages Rob has been creating during these uncertain times. This is what Rob had to say about his winning image.

“This image has a lot of meaning for me. Here is a little background on what I had created. We’re all living in uncertain times right now, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. So much has changed, in so many ways. To keep myself motivated, positive, and to take my mind off things, I wanted to channel my creativity, so I had the idea to develop a series of these light painting photo messages – this is one of the photos in that series.”

“I wanted to combine my love for landscape photography, with my love for light painting and try to keep things relatively simple and clean. Each photo would contain a single positive word or phrase written in it, such as “hope”, “stay home”, “in this together”, “be positive”, and most recently and above all – “thank you.” I wanted to create a special thank you, to all of our first responders, healthcare professionals, and every other essential worker out there every day on the front lines during this pandemic. I wanted to say how we truly appreciate their sacrifices, courage, and how hard they are working to keep us all safe. The idea was to share these photos on my social channels, in hopes to help others stay positive as well.”

“From a technical perspective, besides choosing what word to write, I tried my best to associate a specific color, with a specific word – in the case of this photo, I chose blue. Originally, I thought to paint symbols and icons with the words for representation, but saw how complicated it was looking. In the end, I decided to simply show an EKG graph. At first, I thought it would be fun to take each photo in different locations, but thinking again, the consistency of “home” in each photo would be symbolic. So I stayed in my backyard for each. For the tools used, I kept it pretty simple. I’m currently using a Canon 70D and was shooting wide at 10mm. The settings used were f/14 ISO 100 and 140 second exposure. I’m currently using a NITECORE MT226C Torch to illuminate everything. For the letters, I used a Light Painting Brushes White Opaque Light Writer, with a Blue Screw On Color Filter. To illuminate the background, I used a Light Painting Brushes White Color Hood for parts of the scene, and then attached a Yellow Color Filter to hit other details in the foreground. The writing of letters is always tricky, so I can say I definitely tried numerous attempts until I got something I was pleased with. In the end, I was really happy with the end result and proud to have this image in this series I had created.”

To check out more of Rob’s work at the link below:
Website
Instagram
Facebook

For Rob’s winning image showing Thanks Rob will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.

The winner of the Light Painting Photography Contest for May 2020 is… Kim Von Coels for the image you see above! Kim took a unique approach to creating her wings for this winning image read on to see exactly how it was done!

Tools Needed:
Camera on tripod with cable release.
Stencil on stand with clips Laser on stand.
Smoke pellets and lighter.
Steel wool.
With a chain and clip for spinning.
Portrait scanner.
Or small handheld flash for front light.
Strong torch for backlight with coloured filters.
I used a LedLenser xr21.2 and some hand cut gels.
Fantastic model
Assistant (if you have one) in this case it was Phill Fisher

How to: Firstly you need to line up all the elements of your shot. Laser at the very back on a stand. Model in the centre. With plenty of space between the model and the laser so you can spin the steelwool. Stencil stand infront of the camera. I attach my stencil with clips to the stand so I can swing it in and out of the shot.

Then I compose my shot. Make sure the model is central. I use the focus box in the view finder so I know its exactly right. I then focus on the model and turn my focus to manual. I mark the ground where the model is standing so I don’t always need to refocus.
Once everything is lined up and in focus I bring the stencil in and line it up in my viewfinder. I know where the model is because of the focus box. When the stencil is in shot I cannot see the model so its important to have a reference so I can line the stencil up with the model perfectly.

Once everything is ready the process is as follows:
1. Start exposure using bulb mode and shutter release cable.
2. Steel wool spun behind the model.
3. Backlight with yellow filter shone onto the walls to fill the rest of the stencil where the steel wool didn’t reach (in my case we shot in a tunnel so the steel wool bounced off the walls and didn’t reach the tips of the wings)
4. Move stencil out of the way.
5. Backlight model with red filter.
6. Front light the model either with a portrait scanner or little hand held flash.
7. Light smoke pellet and fill area with smoke to make the laser beams stand out in the picture.
8. End exposure.
Repeat until all elements if the picture are satisfactorily balanced. In my case i think we did about 20 attempts before we were truly happy. Pro tip: be fussy!!!! Dont be satisfied unless its perfect. Do it again. Persistence pays off.

For this winning Image Kim will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.

Congratulations to the winner of the Light Painting Photography Spirograph contest Antonio Martínez for the above image titled Andromeda! This image was a complicated one to make here is what Antonio had to say about his winning Light Painting!

“My intention was to create as a galaxy originally only with the spirograph but I thought it was all a bit empty. I wanted to include some other light painting effects to make it better, so I included added in some more effects. To create the image I also used a kaleidoscope, a glitter card, a black fiber optic and several different flashlights with color filters.

To create this image I made the spirograph with an orange plastic rod attached to a flashlight and the round Light Painting Paradise adapter. I  hung it from the ceiling of the living room with a piece to thread, then I used a flash of cold light in the center of the frame. I made some effects with the black fiber optic with a blue color filter and then without moving the camera I did some more effects by lighting a glitter card in front of the lens to create white dots.

Finally I changed the camera to a different tripod that I had prepared in front of a kaleidoscope and I made some more effects in the form of radial lines, dots, and concentric ring around the spirograph all these in blue and orange. All of those element come together to make the Andromeda galaxy image! I made many combinations for two nights in a row until I got this one that you see here.

The settings used were: 395 seconds of exposure – multiple diaphragm with manual lenses (f/8 to f/16) – 14mm – ISO100 – 5500K – multiple focus – changing camera position.

Thank you very much to everyone for the votes, and to the judges for finally choosing my picture! Here are a few behind shots of the setup.

For this winning Image Antonio will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details. 

The winner of the Light Painting Photography Homemade Light Painting Tool and Image is Rod Evans for this ingenious Light Painting tool made up of  hose clamps, tube guards and empty M&M containers! Incredible how a light painter can walk trough a store and see things differently… “I wonder what that would do if I shine a light through it”

Here is what Rod had to say about his winning image and the tool he created it with!

I captured this image at the pool in my backyard (in northern NSW, Australia). The spiral design was drawn completely by hand and is a shape that I have been working on for the last year or so. Most of my attempts at this shape are not worthy of publication but if I stick with it I usually end up getting at least one good shot from a shoot. When I saw this one on the back of the camera I really liked it as it has good symmetry and a nice reflection.

The tool I built is basically a red acrylic tube with a green M&M’s container taped on the end (I chose the red and green colours for one reason only….it was Christmas!!!). I purchased several coloured acrylic tubes from China recently and I love finding things to tape on the ends for light painting. Walking through the supermarket a while ago, I noticed the M&M’s containers (in four different colours) and thought they might look good with light shone through them, so I purchased them all, cut off the lids and put them to work. I’ve since done a few shoots using the containers and they all look great. The red tube is attached to the torch using a silicon grey-water adaptor that I bought from my local hardware store. I use butterfly hose clamps to secure the tube and torch in place. Torch used was a Nitecore P26. After creating the spiral shape I then walked over to the camera and painted in the trees with my headtorch. Check out more of Rod’s awesome Light Painting work on his Instagram Account HERE!

For this winning Image Rod will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible, Rosco and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible! If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details. 

The winner of the Light Painting Photography contest titled “Light Being” is…  Dennis Berka, A.K.A Ryus Light Works, for the super cool image above! You might look at this image an wonder how the heck it was created in a single exposure, well there were a lot of steps involved as you will see from the description below! Here is what Dennis said about his complex winning image!

“The photo was created in the ruins of an old tar production building. The place is usually a swamp below the pillars you see in the photo, but one summer here was so hot that it dried up. So I decided to go there with two fellow lightpainters and try out a technique I played around with at that time. For the Fire Golem I placed a small bit of shaped steel wool on a black metal sheet and put up a tripod next to it. I used an old analog Nikkor zoom lens that had a macro setting so it was easy to set focus on the little figure. It was about the size of a smartphone. Next I positioned another tripod for the scene you see in the photo and put a manual wide angle lens on the camera. After setting the scene I drew a circle on the screen of my camera with a non permanent whiteboard marker to mark where the fire golem was supposed to appear. Back to the steel wool figure to align it to fit inside the circle on the camera screen. Once everything was prepared and my friends placed in the scene I closed down the aperture of the zoom lens nearly all the way, lit the steel wool with a lighter and started the exposure. Once it was fully burned through (with the help of a few blows of air) I capped the lens, swapped it to the wide angel and switched tripods to the one for the scene. Now cap off the wide angle lens and the only thing left to do was walk into the scene to the place where the fire golem is supposed to stand and light the scene from there in red. I used a technique that Pala Teth demonstrated a few times here hiding the flashlight from the camera. The last touch was to add a little lake blue light to the shadows of the scene to make them visible a bit more. The rest of the light came from street lanterns a little bit to the side of the place that produced a real nice texture on the pillars because it was shining through large bushes. I played around with this technique quite a lot and have refined and used it a lot of times since then to create a lot of fantastic photos that people always wonder about how they were made.”

You can check out more of Dennis’s Light Painting work on his Facebook and Instagram pages linked Below:
https://www.facebook.com/RyusLightworks
https://www.instagram.com/ryuslightworks

The Models for this image were the Light Painting Duo Night Lights: https://www.facebook.com/Nightandlights/

For this winning Image Dennis will receive a prize package filled with light painting tools and treasures from our sponsors  COAST Flashlights, Neon Flexible and Light Painting Brushes ! Please support these awesome companies that support our light painting art from, without them this contest series would not be possible!

If you would like to enter the next Light Painting Photography contest click here for all the details.