Back in 2013 Light Painting Photographer Patrick Rochon recorded an in depth 2 day workshop for the Educational website Learnster. Unfortunately the the Learnster team had to close up shop but their closure gave Patrick the ability to release his workshop for FREE. Patrick has allowed me to share all the videos with the Light Painting Photography family here on the website! Patrick’s Light Painting work is amazing and inspiring, especially inspired by his Light Painting Portraits which you will learn about in this series of videos! If you can take the time to watch through these tutorials I am positive you will receive some valuable knowledge from them! I have placed all the videos from the tutorial series with a brief description down below for you to check out! Enjoy!

01 – INTRO
In the first segment, Patrick takes time to introduce himself and show some amazing examples from his personal portfolio to inspire us. He also talks about how he got into light painting and shares some of his experiences living and working around the world.

02 – TOOLS
During this segment, Patrick talks about the basic techniques and camera settings required for capturing your work. He also shares with us a large selection of lights he uses and how he modifies and adjusts them to create stunning and unique textures and effects ranging from fire to water.

03 – STUDIO
In this segment, Patrick explains how to set up your studio, how dark it needs to be, and most importantly – how to work effectively and efficiently in the dark. He shares his tips and tricks for placement of tools, how to use red lights as markers, and how to tape out your working area so you know when you are in and out of the frame.

04 – DEMO
This segment is a live demonstration in the dark of all the different tools/light that he brought with him. He also shows us how he moves with the lights and how to create interesting patterns using movement, speed, and space.

05 – JAM
Patrick truly believes that anyone can light paint, all you need are some lights, a camera with a manual setting, a long exposure, and a dark space and away you go. He proved this by selecting a couple of members of our crew for a live impromptu demonstration and the results are pretty impressive considering they have never done anything like this before.

06 – REVIEW
During the first segment of day two, Patrick takes some time to share some online resources. He also shares some examples of portraits that he has done and talks about how he gets prepared to shoot a portrait. He also reviews some of the basics including the camera settings from the previous day.

07 – BASIC
For this segment, Patrick explains how he prepares the model for working in the dark. He also explains eye sensitivity and how to deal with models that have sensitive eyes. He then teaches how to light the models face first using different styles of light and why it is important that this step is done first and only once.

08 – EFFECTS
Building upon the information in the previous segment, Patrick now moves into the more creative background lighting effects. He demonstrates different lights and how to create mood and texture in the space around the model. The end results are absolutely stunning, all of the images you see are straight out of the camera without any photoshop or alterations.

09 – AIRBRUSH
During the final segment with a live model, Patrick continues to build and teach additional lighting techniques that he used when shooting portraits. He focuses mainly on soft airbrush-like lighting on the model’s face then continues to add drama in the background with more effects and lights.

10 – POST
Patrick goes to great lengths to get remarkable images straight out of the camera but understands that sometimes some post-production might be required. During this segment, he takes one of the images from the workshop and demonstrates some of his favorite post-production tools and tricks.

11 – Q&A
At the end of the workshop, Patrick sat down with Rob Lawrence of Learnster to reflect on his time here and to answer some questions from the audience.