Use a fibre-optic light brush and torch to create colourful portraits
Time needed 45 minutes
Skill level Intermediate
Kit needed
• Tripod
• Torch
• Coloured gels
• Black backdrop
• Fibre-optic light brush
Light painting isn’t a technique you’d normally associate with portraiture, but with a few simple skills you can create fantastically surreal people photos. You don’t need lots of gear for this either, just a tripod, a dark room, a willing subject, and a torch or other light-emitting device you can use to ‘paint’ with.
When it comes to choosing a light source for your painting, there are all sorts of torches, light wands and dedicated tools out there. But one of the most interesting is a fibre-optic brush. This is a technique inspired by the portraits of Gunnar Heilmann, who uses a fibre-optic light brush to incredible effect. The fibres split the beam from a normal torch into lots of tiny points of light that look wonderful when brushed and flicked over the course of a long exposure. We bought our brush from rigu.co.uk for only £25.
Painting with the brush is rather addictive, as you can get a variety of results depending on whether you stroke across the face, dab it onto the skin or shine the light around your subject.
This story is from the January 2022 edition of PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine.
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This story is from the January 2022 edition of PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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