Thursday, April 9, 2009

Storming blogs across the web is light graffiti


..and I find it to be pretty damn baby-kicking amazing.

Straight out of Norway, Lightmark is a truly remarkable collection of stunning scenery, time lapse photography and a couple of insanely talented lads running around in the dark with light sources (torches doesn't sound technical enough!) Their "light drawings" are absolutely magical at a glance, but upon closer inspection many of the concentric loops, glittery sparkles and simple strokes are actually mimicking and responding to the landscape. Utter perfection!





Next up is Lichtfaktor - Graffiti durch Licht! These guys are ill. sick. dope. BOSS! (When's the last time you heard that one?) It puts the trend of tagging with LEDS to shame. TO SHAME!




German lads Lichtfaktor have been using similar techniques in their "light writing" experiments. Their aesthetic has a distinct graffiti edge, and although the stills of their work are impressive enough, their work is best experienced through their extended exposure/stop motion films.

How is it done? to get the best results a tripod is needed. The exposure should be around 10-30 sec. or longer if needed. Stay in front of the camera and do your writing with the different light sources. To not overexpose, the camera should be set to about iso100, and the aperture closed as much as possible. If there is still too much light, a nd-filter (neutral density) might be needed. And a useful tip: it is always nice to integrate the surroundings into the picture.

The toolkit consists of a collection of flashlights, biking-lights, flashing LED lights, fireworks & torches and even more sophisticated equipment. (Fireworks?! Oh now we're talking. Roman candles? The little tanks that shoot out sparks? Razzle dazzle snazzle. I like it.)
Lichtfaktor uses three different types: xenon, which creates a warm golden light; LED, which produces a thin precise line; and cold cathode, which gives a thick line. The best results are achieved by experimenting, including using filters and objects that reflect light.

http://www.lichtfaktor.eu/



A little behind the scenes peek:


Leave it up to the Europeans and the Norwegian to pull these stunts.

Some of the best work I've seen lately has either come from Germany, France, Scotland or Norway. A trend is coming...

3 comments:

Sunny said...

Well thats something I really wouldn't have thought of ...

Amazing artwork ...

C.B. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
C.B. said...

Isn't it amazing? Many years back I took a photography class and although it's something I'm not great at, it's a lot of fun and very meditative. Anyways I spent the duration of my final assignment toying with drawing images out of light on low exposure only to recieve an average result.

Who am I kidding, average would be a compliment. It was nowhere near this haha. What I had in my head wasn't even anywhere near this! So to remember the work that went into my dinky results and now seeing what the above artists have done leaves me truly awestruck. Very creative, very talented, genius.