Photoshop Masterclass

Combine and colourise multiple shots to create amazing light paintings

Discover how to create electrifying colourful light painting images in Photoshop, with Jon Adams’ workshop

Some projects are so exciting that you really have no idea how much time has elapsed since you

started them. Utterly absorbed in the task at hand, you find yourself lost in the creative process, and everything else simply fades into the background.

This kind of complete fulfilment is quite rare in today’s quickfire world, but with this technique for creating ‘paintings’ made out of light, you will find it. Aside from your camera, a tripod and a torch, all you need is a subject in a dark room, followed by a creative session in Photoshop. It really is absolute bliss!

The traditional way to paint with light is to take a long exposure and wave your torch at or around your subject in one, long take. While this has some merit in its purist approach, you’ll find that lots of mistakes occur, and the only way to rectify them is to start all over again. If you want to eliminate the errors and get better results, the method outlined here is much more successful, as it allows you to break down the scene into more manageable chunks, then combine them using Photoshop layers to build up the full picture. Overall, it really is a fusion of camera, lighting and Photoshop skills, and you get the chance to blend and even colourise your effects once your shots are stacked up in layers.

When you choose a subject for your first attempt, don’t go for anything too big that could prove overwhelming. Similarly, don’t choose anything too small, as it’s tricky to trace fine detail with a torch. I’ve picked a guitar in this example, which gives plenty of scope for a glowing, hi-tech image.