Slow Light (Light Painting)

Still there after all these years by Pat David on Flickr.

A while back I was too cheap (lazy?) to get around to purchasing some speedlights and in typical DIY fashion for me, I figured I could replicate most results using nothing more than a flashlight. So one evening with my friend Sean and his wife, we decided to try out some long exposure light painting ideas.

To be clear, the term "light painting" is often used to describe painting light onto an image where the bulb is visible, and used to create something visual in the final result. This is NOT what I am referring to here. I've seen plenty that are nice, but I don't personally have much interest in doing this:

Light Painting by VFS Digital Design on Flickr.

As far as I'm concerned, the definitive "light painting" of this type was done years ago by Picasso:

Pablo Picasso draws a centaur in the air
Vallauris, France, 1949 Gjon Mili

I absolutely love the quality of the light fall-off when using nothing more than a flashlight to illuminate a scene during a long exposure. The ability to move around and to selectively place light wherever you want it at whatever intensity you desire is surprisingly fun once you get started. So let's get started...