Light writing –
here’s how it’s done
One of the talking points of last year's Earth Hour was the nifty photographic trick called light writing (or ‘light graffiti’). Since then it’s really taken off – as in those eye-catching Talk Talk ads on TV. Now Earth Hour 2010 is making it available to everyone!
Here’s our unique, step-by-step guide to making your own fantastic and fun light-writing images for Earth Hour 2010 – including tips from light-writing guru Michael Bosanko. Send us your finished pics and we’ll show our favourite ones on our website.
Go on, give it a go. If you know vaguely how to change the settings on a camera, it’s pretty easy to get some amazing images with a bit of experimenting. Here’s how to make your own light-writing images or videos:
For still images
What you'll need... A dark night, or a darkened room; a stills camera (not a video camera or unadjustable phone camera), a tripod (or a flat surface like a table or wall), and a light source (torch, mobile phone screen etc). Any colour light should work. To be really sustainable, use one of WWF’s wind-up torches. Or even more than one!
Set your camera to ‘manual’ mode (on all SLR cameras and many decent compacts). This will let you set the ‘exposure’ and ‘aperture’ manually. If you’ve never done this before, don’t worry – we’ll make it simple, and if you get stuck there are lots of websites out there with camera tips.
The basic idea is that, instead of a normal quick click, you want to keep the camera shutter open for as long as it takes to write your message in the air. So the torchlight, being brighter than the dark background (and than the person who’s doing it), will show up in the photo as a brilliant, glowing image hanging in mid air.
Set the exposure (also called the shutter speed – the length of time the lens is open and the film is ‘exposed’). Use the dial on top of the camera or on-screen menu. Try somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds. If you have a remote cable release, switch the camera to Bulb mode, which will let you take much longer exposures.
The length you choose really depends on what you want to write and how much background you want to show – the more complex your design, the more time you’ll need. But remember the longer the shutter is open, the more of the background starts to register in the picture. It also means the person doing the writing might start to show up, especially if they stand in one place long enough – which may not be the desired effect. Experimenting is key!
Set the aperture (or f-stop) to f8 – setting it on the lens itself or menu screen. This restricts the amount of light coming through the lens, which is important if the shutter is open for a long time, otherwise the film could be over-exposed. Again, f8 is by no means the ‘only’ f-stop setting you can try – it partly depends how long the exposure is and how dark the surroundings. Try f11 and see how the effect changes.
Of course it’s best to experiment with all this in advance, so you and your friends are not standing outside on a cold night taking lots of unusable images.
Position the camera on a tripod (or flat surface), then get a friend to push the button, or set the self-timer mode, and get writing!
For the light writing/drawing itself – the person doing it needs to point the light (torches etc) at the camera, and draw pictures or letters in the air for the camera to capture during its long exposure.
Remember, if it’s words, they need to be written backwards (assuming the writer is facing the camera), like mirror-writing, so the words will be right way round for the viewer. You might want to practise this in advance, as it can take some getting used to.
You also need to know the limits of the image frame: how far to the left and right, or up and down you can go and still be in shot. Might take some trial and error, but worth persevering to get it right. You can also ‘trace’ around objects or people to create brilliant glowing outlines.
Another good tip from Michael Bosanko is to make sure your images don't turn out too blurry. Using auto-focus might not produce the best results, so switch it off and focus the lens manually, taking a few test shots as you go – or ask someone to hold a light source at the chosen distance and focus off the bright spot.
Here are some Earth Hour light-writing images made earlier...
For light writing videos
Making a moving video version is a bit more complex. The usual way is to make a stop-frame animation of the still images – you’ll need to take lots of consecutive frames, using the process explained above, and then string them together on your computer using a film-making program like Windows Movie Maker or Apple iMovie or Final Cut.
Alternatively, if you have the right special effects software (like Adobe After Effects), you can create realtime footage – you shoot a digital video in the normal way, load it into your PC and then digitally tweak parts of the image onscreen to artificially create or enhance glowing light trails.
You might also want to enter your video creation in our Earth Hour video competition!
Watch as Michael Bosanko creates a beautiful flower in light writing!
However you do it, have fun! And don't forget to sign up to say you’re taking part in Earth Hour!
And remember that Earth Hour this year is Saturday 27 March, 8.30pm.
