Lightpainting is a lot of fun. You can go crazy creative, or just make a building look awesome under the stars.
For this post it will be more about lightpainting the buildings. Highlighting the brickwork and architecture in the middle of the night.
For doing this you need a torch. You don’t need to break the bank and buy something like the LED Lenser P7 at nearly £50. You can do this with a good household torch. The only difference is you have to adjust the amount of time you lightpaint the building. What i started with was the a cheap tactical torch.
A lightpainted building over a reservoir.
If you are doing a startrail, your best bet is to get a lightpainted shot before you get on with the rest of the photos. This way you get the more complicated work out the way before letting the camera do it’s business.
You could also do the first shot at a lower ISO, Lower Aperture and longer exposure to make sure the building is sharp as possible.
As i wanted a 20 second exposure to get the whole exposure i wanted, that is the time limit you have to lightpaint.
I generally start at the top of the building and work down in lines.
Start at the top left, go to the top right, bring the torch down and go back the other way. Repeat until you have ‘painted’ everything you want.
It will take a little practice to get this right. You’ll find that the first few you do will either be too quick and not bring out the detail of the building, or you’ll only get halfway down the building in the time you’ve given yourself.
A non lightpainted shot edited with the same settings as the lightpainted shot.
There are so many techniques to do this, and it’s all about being comfortable with the way you want to do it.
Sometimes a building is too big to do in one hit, and requires a couple of exposures to build up the whole image. As long as your comfortable with masking in photoshop, you’ll be able to create a great image.
Use the information here as a starting point to develop your own technique with your own equipment.
All this can be done with entry level equipment, and just requires practice.
Here is some of the kit i use for these photographs.
If you have any questions about the technique or photography in general, drop me a comment.
Finally, have fun and stay safe, and enjoy shooting.
Any suggestions for future blog posts, drop me an email.
you can see more of my work at
About Me
I’m Gareth, a 39 year old IT contractor, Photographer, Eternal Optimist and Blogger. I have been behind a camera for about 4 years now and love shooting the stars, and anything else for that matter. Learning is the main aim for me. I am a family man, and strive to be the best i can be in all fields that i put my mind and heart to.
