Intro to Light Painting If you do a web search for “light painting” you will find many amazing results! In this activity, you will learn the basics to get you started at home.

Materials: • Flashlight • Opaque material (aluminum foil works well) • Sewing needle or fine point pen • Smartphone • A dark space

Make your light painting “brush”! When it comes to light painting, the finer the point of light on your paiting tool, the better. If you have a single LED that you can attach to a coin battery, this will work wonderfully. If you don’t have an LED, you can alter a regular flashlight by following these steps: 1. Cut a small piece of aluminum foil. Other opaque materials, like construction paper could work too. 2. Use a sewing needle or fine point pen to make one small hole in the piece of foil. 3. Securely wrap the foil around the front of the flashlight.

Get your smartphone ready! Open the app store on your phone and search for “slow shutter.” apps, such as Slow Shutter Fast Cam (free), will allow for a longer on your and make light painting possible. Once downloaded, you will have to adjust the following setting: 1. Click the gears icon and select auto save. This will ensure all of your paintings will be saved to your photos, so that you can go back and review your paintings later. 2. Next, click the eye icon to the left. Select light trail for the capture mode and change the to 15. This will keep the “eye” of your camera open for 15 seconds. You may want to play around with the other setting later on, but this will get your started.

Find a dark space and a way to prop your phone up! You can either wait until nighttime or find a dark space like a basement or an interior room. You will want to keep your phone as still as possible for the best photo. An easy way to prop your phone is with a heavy book or a coffee mug.

Now start painting! Now that you are in a dark space, have your phone propped and app open, click the camera icon and start painting! Turn your flashlight on and point it toward the camera on your phone. Explore what shapes and designs you can make. Can you write your name? Upload your photos to show them off to your friends and to us!