THE SET-UP GARDEN LIGHT PAINTING 01

Learn how to shoot vibrant long exposures in your garden at night

01 TRIPOD

Our exposure will run to several seconds, perhaps even minutes. So we need to keep the camera still by using a tripod. If you don’t have a tripod to hand, then you can simply place your camera on any solid garden object, like a chair or a brick wall.

02 CAMERA SETTINGS

When our camera is set to Bulb mode we need to set the aperture and ISO manually. We can set a narrow aperture of f/22, which restricts the flow of light into the camera. An ISO of 100 also allows for a long exposure and ensures a noise-free image.

03 PHONE OR SHUTTER RELEASE

We need to trigger the camera and keep the shutter open. A cable or wireless release is fine, but even better if you can connect your phone to your camera, as you can also use the Live View feed to figure out where to paint with your torch.

04 TORCH

Once the shutter is locked open we can move our torch through the scene to create trails of light, in much the same way as when shooting traffic trails. This works best when painting behind objects, so that they appear almost in silhouette, surrounded by colourful streaks.

05 FLOWERS

Choose a still night to shoot this, we don’t want wind blowing the plants around during our exposure. Pick a flower bed with strong shapes that will look bold in silhouette. It’s best if the bed extends to a few metres, as then you can paint in ‘levels’ through the scene for extra depth.

06 DARKNESS & DARK CLOTHES

Our garden scene needs to be dark, but it needn’t be pitch black (if we set our exposure with a narrow aperture and low ISO that means any dim ambient light will barely register). It’s a good idea to wear dark clothes, as the torch can reflect light off of them and show up in the image.