Light Drawing

March 22, 2010
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43 comments

My brother-in-law showed me some photographs of Picasso doing light drawings, and I had to give it a whirl myself.  I had so much fun, I kept going until my camera battery ran out.

All you do is put your camera on a tripod in a dark or dimly lit room and take a long exposure (10 seconds or more) and quickly draw with a flashlight pointed at the camera.  It’s really fun, but it can get tricky because you can’t see what you’re doing until your drawing is done.  Then you get the surprise on your camera.  I would imagine this would be exciting for kids too, but I haven’t yet tried it with them.

43 Responses
  1. Tagan Engel

    wow, this takes some serious talent. really beautiful and creative! thank you for your inspiring blog! I'm reworking my blog layout and keep coming back to yours because of it's elegant simplicity.

  5. Joel Henriques

    Thanks!

    Stephanie, I use a Nikon D70. For this I used the remote to trigger the shutter. You can also set the Nikon to "bulb" mode which opens the shutter until you press the button again to close it. Very handy.

  6. amberlee

    Ah I love this! I must get my remote fixed and try it. Thanks for the link to picasso's artwork, beautiful!

  7. Jillian

    Ooooh! We'll try this with our littlies and see what we come up with! Thanks for the inspiration! :)

  9. Suzette

    Nice, I love the bike! I just did sort of the same thing with my three-year old. I drew some animals and he danced with two lights (red and white) and was totally amazed by the results! I also let him operate the camera (with a remote) and he came up with all these different things I had to draw (like a meat-eating dinosaur mom…). We had so much fun!

  12. Anonymous

    I love your blog. its so creative and funny. Your works are so beatiful. Sorry about my English. it isn't my native laguage.
    Sukran Bahadir.

  15. recovergirl

    I'm totally stealing this idea for a holiday card this year. Thanks again for more inspiration.

  17. mountain girl

    You are absolutely incredible! I just browsed through your blog for the first time and I'm blown away. You've given me a million ideas of things to make for/with my 2 year old. Thanks!

  20. ieva jansone

    hallo joel! i just discovered your blog, and i'm smitten by your creativity and the fantastic things you make, as well as the photos! (the dolls house is just genious:))
    your kids must be happy to have a father like you!

  21. maijanmaja

    Hi! I heard about your blog from my friend and I'm impressed! So many wonderful things to do with the kids. What an idea to make that kind of a yo-yo ball! My youngest kids are also so frustrated with the real ones. So, I put that to my to-do list. I also like the fishing poles very much.
    You're very creative! Thanks for shearing those things!

  24. Loulou's mum

    Hi, I just discovered your blog and am amazed by your creativity. It is such an inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing.

  25. Anonymous

    We did something similar with those glow in the dark bracelets you have to bend to make light up. The colors were vivid and just perfect. The kids all danced around in the dark to fun music and took turns pushing the remote. Some photos were done similar to yours with trying to get a shape drawn, but most were just color expressions. Great fun!

  26. Novi On The Go

    The light drawings are wonderful! I'll have to give it a try, thanks for the tips. I found your blog through Fine Little Day and think your projects are fantastic!

  28. Bree

    I did this with my kids a while back and they LOVED it! We also used those glow in the dark swords, necklaces, and bracelets. They almost knocked the tripod over a few times because they were so excited to see the pictures they made.
    Great Post.

  34. Clara Daisy

    Wow!! These are better than Picassos!! You have painted a Matisse with that vase picture! Well done!!

  36. Lia

    You are truly inspirational. I have almost read all of your posts and can't stop saying WOW!!! Your kids are so lucky to have such a creative father :)

  38. tina

    that’s so cool…what a great boredom filler…next time my daughter has friends over and they’re bored this will be the game for them! many thanks :)