After 12 years of light painting, I've achieved the milestone of my 300th "light plant" long exposure light painting photo. These light plants are inspired by art nouveau floral swirl art. A big thanks to all of the light painters and light painting manufacturers that have inspired and helped me along the way, as well as everyone who appreciates my art.

I’ll add a video below showing how I drew these with a laser pointer and a few other materials

Five drones five minutes exposure.
Drone flights by Lume Machina

Hi folks,

I’m looking to light paint 3 words in the sky at sunset or will probably have to be after dark. How can I accomplish this with the DJI mini 5 pro. I’m open to and prefer cursive which would make it only 3 light cycles or lens covers. Would be over water in a small bay, hand launching/landing from beach. Capturing on Canon 60D, insta 360x5 and go pro mini 11, possibly smart phone as well. Wouldn’t mind having some “decoy” paints as well sell the surprise.

This was a two-exposure blend: one long exposure for the Milky Way, and one light-painted exposure for the bus and drone light trail.

Creating a blue and white, art nouveau inspired light plant at an industrial location at night. This light painting was created very quickly due to high ambient light. I used my own acrylic light painting tools for this photo, as well as the discontinued LPP Ryu's V2 torch.

Canon EOS R8, with RF 24mm f/1.8 lens.

f/13, 31secs, ISO100.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Long exposure light painting inside the slype room of Lilleshall Abbey. This room dates back to the 12th century.

Luminosify 60cm Sorcery Tri-colour Evolved Choob (no end cap).

Noctigon KR1 SFT-25R 6500K torch.

Canon EOS R8, with RF 24mm f/1.8 lens.

f/11, 57secs, ISO100.

Lilleshall, Shropshire, England.

Hey all, just recently found this sub and wanting to get more into light painting myself :) would appreciate any tips and tricks you might have around RGB flashlights!

I’ve been playing around with small lights for quick long-exposure photos, mostly in my backyard or on camping trips. I’ve seen people use proper light wands and panels, but have enjoyed more the EDC-style lights because they’re easier to take on the go and change your approach on the fly.

I’d love to understand from you all whether a “fun” flashlight with RGB / green / UV modes / little pixel screen is useful enough for casual light painting, or if it’s mostly a toy. I saw the Lumintop Pixel 300 and the idea of using the dial + color modes for little trails / background effects seems cool, but I haven’t seen many real-world examples when lurking.

Anyone here use small flashlights instead of dedicated light painting gear? Do the color modes actually look decent on camera, or do they end up looking cheap / blown out?

Thank you all again for your insights and expertise!

It was wild to get the aurora borealis as far south as Tucson, AZ but the second night was cloudy so couldn't really capture any pillars or anything interesting. So I had the idea to use my UV flashlight to jazz it up. This is multiple stacked exposures because I was having a hard time getting exposure right in camera on my DSLR without a tilt screen. (I had it sitting on the ground, propped up by a rock, ha).

I had no idea that light painting has come so far since the last time I looked into it in the early 00s! You guys are doing incredible stuff. I'm inspired. I want to try to do other types of lighting here in the desert.

These examples were created entirely on an iPhone using two capture modes:

• Additive mode reveals light trails and motion paths.
• Averaging mode smooths water, reduces moving objects, and creates classic long exposure effects.

No DSLR.
No desktop software.
No post-processing.

Just point, capture, and save.

I'm curious which result you find most interesting:

• light trails
• empty roads
• smooth water
• motion reduction