Painting abstractly: the power of darkness and colored light

 

This is the face of my blog, and as such I figure it deserves to be the first picture I post. 

Light painting is an artistic technique where the photographer sets a scene and then records the movement of light before the camera. This is accomplished by setting the camera to a slower shutter speed, and then moving a light source in front of the camera. At this slower shutter speed the light that dances before the camera is recorded. If you look at a bright light and then close your eyes you'll notice the image is still burned into your retina for several moments, this is kinda like what the camera is doing. Using this technique you can create many wonderful pictures, try googling light paintings and witness the marvels that people have been able to create, from circles of light to words and even drawings that shine in the dark,  Its truly incredible to see. 

My photography is using these same techniques but I've also decided to add something uncharacteristic of light painting...camera shake. Camera shake is normally not good in a light painting because you want the light trails and the subjects to be clear and in focus, for me however I want the opposite. I want the blur and the shake. By blending the light and moving the camera it creates wild scenes and images, and this is exactly what I want to achieve. 

This picture above was created through this process and a little bit of photo-editing to duplicate and flip the image. On this blog you'll find stranger things then this some created with a little photoshop magic and others completely untouched. I hope you enjoy and thanks for touring my little gallery.