Abstract light-painted portraits

Paint incredible portraits using a fibre-optic brush with James Paterson

- James Paterson

THE MISSION

Use a fibre-optic light brush and torch to create colourful portraits

Time needed 45 minutes

Skill level Intermediate

Kit needed

• Tripod

• Torch

• Coloured gels

• Black backdrop

• Fibre-optic light brush

Light painting isn’t a technique you’d normally associate with portraiture, but with a few simple skills you can create fantastically surreal people photos. You don’t need lots of gear for this either, just a tripod, a dark room, a willing subject, and a torch or other light-emitting device you can use to ‘paint’ with.

When it comes to choosing a light source for your painting, there are all sorts of torches, light wands and dedicated tools out there. But one of the most interesting is a fibre-optic brush. This is a technique inspired by the portraits of Gunnar Heilmann, who uses a fibre-optic light brush to incredible effect. The fibres split the beam from a normal torch into lots of tiny points of light that look wonderful when brushed and flicked over the course of a long exposure. We bought our brush from rigu.co.uk for only £25.

Painting with the brush is rather addictive, as you can get a variety of results depending on whether you stroke across the face, dab it onto the skin or shine the light around your subject.