Flickr Spotlight - Light Stenciling Is The New Light Painting

 Flickr Spotlight - Light Stenciling Is The New Light Painting

We all know the classic way to light paint photos, usually with a flashlight or a similar light source, but recently a new technique came to life: Light Stenciling. The idea is simple - instead of moving a flashlight in the frame to create shapes, you use a computer display (iPads, iPhones, Laptops) to add characters and items to the image by placing a graphic on top of a black background. The results are really awesome, so check out some of the best stencils we could find on Flickr.

Have you ever tried Light Stenciling? Feel free to share your photos on our Facebook Group


Magical Beings of Light
Photo: Joel Robison.

bloom
Photo: Trevor Williams.

Summoning Spirits of PathFinder
Photo: Michael Ross.

Frozen Winds
Photo: Janne Parviainen.

floating, hovering
Photo: Mark.

IMG_6292
Photo: David Schlaich.

?
Photo: Jules Marshall.

DSC_8777
Photo: zgpunkrockgirl.

6.12.10 "light beer"
Photo: Janice Sauce.

Save the Date
Photo: Chase Hoffman.

When the whales go marching in. (I)
Photo: Tim Freh.

l_img-0884
Photo: Alex Weber.

The Gnomes come out to play...
Photo: Chris Reynolds.

In the deep woods
Photo: Helena.

Swarming
Photo: Johnny Dickerson.

An Unfortunate Event
Photo: Dennis Valente.

attack of the space invaders - at the camp site #1
Photo: Patrick Brosset.

Noam Galai's picture

Noam Galai is a Senior Fstoppers Staff Writer and NYC Celebrity / Entertainment photographer. Noam's work appears on publications such as Time Magazine, New York Times, People Magazine, Vogue and Us Weekly on a daily basis.

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7 Comments

My brain just exploded.....

Oh wow the possibilities!

Can anyone walk me through how this is achieved? Multiple layers merged together?

If you look at Trevor's flickr stream, he has videos (or possible has links to videos) that he made explaining the process.
But Ian Boys basically said it right.

Most of these weren't done as you describe but by firing a flash inside a box with a cut out covered by paper to achieve the shape.

And Adam, you don't really need multiple layers if it's dark enough. Leave the camera open on bulb for 30 secs then fire plenty of flash pops at low power with the stencil in front.

Yeah great entry...talk about a new great thing, and then not show or talk about how to do it. Please choke yourself, because I can't reach through the internet and do it for you.

After seeing this i had to try out a test run, I used my cell phone to get a taste for it. I'm going to give this a bigger go on a ipod and outdoors.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/chillywilson/light%20painting%20t...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/chillywilson/light%20painting%20t...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/chillywilson/light%20painting%20t...