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**Update: Check out the LICHFAKTOR interview we did for more photos and a new video.
A number of graffiti artists have been tagging everything thought to be impossible without being caught. Well — it’s actually not illegal for them. They’re not using paint. As it turns out, time-lapse photography isn’t just for blooming flowers, skyscapes, or brake lights anymore. Termed Light Graffiti, tag artists are taking their colour to an all new level.

Let There Be Light
Using an exposure of about ten-to-thirty seconds and a tripod for best results, Light Graffiti artists start at the first click. Glowsticks, flashlights, reflectors, and even torches have been used as mediums to create all sorts of designs and tags, as the artist becomes a ghost of a blur, if visible at all.
No Harm, No Foul
Any person, place, or thing can become a central piece of the art. Because all it really takes is less than a minute, light tagging phone booth can be just as easy as something in the privacy of home, though staying home is certainly less fun. Some ‘hardcore’ taggers are set on Light Graffiti not actually being graffiti because it doesn’t have a physical presence, but after seeing photos of it, it’s not too different from tagging a building and having it covered or removed the next day.



See some more for yourself over at this wicked decent Flickr photo set.
See if you can make some yourself. The general rule of Light Graffiti seems to be experimentation and play, so, if your first ‘tag’ isn’t brilliance, keep at it.
9 July, 2007 71
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  Showing 1 - 27 of 27 Comments
 
indiethou…9 Jul, 2007 @ 10:31 AM
Awesome! I love it. I never would've thought of doing something so brilliant with just light and a camera.
 
ruecian9 Jul, 2007 @ 1:13 PM
Wow, nice one, artsykerley. Thanks for sharing.
 
retsof9 Jul, 2007 @ 2:31 PM
Some college students were arrested for using a slide projector to project slides on the side of a white house next door. Well...they were slides of nudes....pornographic light painting....
 
supermike…10 Jul, 2007 @ 1:29 AM
We were already doing that years ago! And in a dark room, you can have even more fun by shining your flash light on certain objects or body parts to make impossible compositions (for example making a person with 6 arms by having him stand still with stretched arms, illuminating his whole body, then let him move his arms to a different position, then shining the flashlight only on his arms, etc.). Or you can put someone's head on someone else's body, etc.
How do I upload pictures here?
 
FreakCERS10 Jul, 2007 @ 1:39 AM
My kid brother (then 14) did one of these 2 years ago - I think this is the first time since I've seen it.. Very cool look...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71165847@N00/269672703
 
ampop10 Jul, 2007 @ 1:50 AM
check out the tagtool for more paintings with light: http://www.tagtool.org/?cat=19
 
jamesspra…10 Jul, 2007 @ 2:50 AM
Can you give us an idea of all the setitng you used on your SLRs?
Great stuff, got to give this a go.
 
dylan10 Jul, 2007 @ 5:14 AM
this is amazing - a lot more creative than what I was able to achieve on my Canon compact. Inspiring me to take out my new Sony dSLR and see what I can do :)
 
optimuscr…10 Jul, 2007 @ 10:52 AM
an 'all new level'?
http://dsc.gc.cuny.edu/part/part8/articles/gr/picasso2.jpg
picasso's space drawings are circa 1949. tout est vieux.
 
ruecian10 Jul, 2007 @ 11:05 AM
Great image, certainly, but I think it's becoming something else, is all. The idea might be old, like dark room experiments, but it's certainly evolving with the coming generations.
 
SugaBooga13 Jul, 2007 @ 2:20 AM
I do that too from time to time, but mine are not that detailed (.___.) these are just great :D
 
jwebber4 Aug, 2007 @ 7:57 AM
Incredible! I can't imagine how much time that must have taken.
 
pbrosset7 Jan, 2008 @ 11:36 PM
Great article, thanks for the link to lichtfaktor's photos, they're simply mind blowing.
I tried a bit myself too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnackgnackgnack/sets/72157603662652650/
 
jerome LO…19 Mar, 2008 @ 4:46 AM
[URL=http://www.slide.com/s/ME_32q2Ruj-W4dep8KtpYZou4RhCkQVm?referrer=hlnk][IMG]http://widget.slide.com/rdr/1/1/3/W/90000001606d9e4/1/75/FNvc93MMxj9TTj8e8v85UJgtL5-qidHe.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
 
jo beezy24 Mar, 2008 @ 1:28 PM
Thats killer i love everything about it, but is that just one movement non stop? or different movements layered together?
 
versi198330 Mar, 2008 @ 6:08 AM
check my myspace to see more light graff, light painting
myspace.com/versi1983

 
MOLE_5704 Apr, 2008 @ 7:42 AM
hope you like one i did a while back when i was in college was fun too create
damien
 
graffiti24 Apr, 2008 @ 7:44 AM
nice but not much graffiti
 
SOLA_UK24 May, 2008 @ 8:45 AM
Hey,
Checkout these LIGHTBOMBING pics from SOLA....
http://www.lightbombing.com
http://www.lightbombing.com
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| Bram.us » Light Graffiti 9 Jul, 2007 @ 11:10 PM
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[...] Graffiti nicht bleibenden Schaden hinterlassen muss zeigt der kreative Weg mit Licht und Langzeitbelichtung bei einer Kamera. Grandiose Bilder und Ideen. Ein [...] | | deedee.brainstream.net - Licht-Graffiti 13 Jul, 2007 @ 4:06 AM
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[...] http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/07/09/colored-in-dancing-lights/ A number of graffiti artists have been tagging everything thought to be impossible without being caught. Well — it’s actually not illegal for them. They’re not using paint. As it turns out, time-lapse photography isn’t just for blooming flowers, skyscapes, or brake lights anymore. [...] | | Inspirational photography 5 Aug, 2007 @ 8:25 AM
[...] Painting with Light on COLOURlovers. Not only great photography, but also great ideas are an inspiration to me. I’ve long known about the concept of “light painting” whereby a handheld light is used to draw images in the air, or ulluminate a subject during a long exposure. However the creative people discussed on this page have taken it to a whole new level. You’ve probably seen some of my photos that have been inspired by this idea. [...] | | Painting with Light at Sean Buckley Blog 6 Aug, 2007 @ 6:55 AM
[...] Color + Design Blog / Painting with Light by COLOURlovers These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...] | | Color + Design Blog / Interview with LICHTFAKTOR: Light Graffiti Artists by COLOURlovers 8 Aug, 2007 @ 7:18 AM
[...] posting Painting with Light, I had the pleasure of speaking with the LICHTFAKTOR crew, the artists responsible for the photos [...] | | Balance In Eden « citizen geek 8 Aug, 2007 @ 9:20 PM
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[...] by photographers, but you can get a similar effect using photoshop. You can see some cool examples here On to the tutorial... source picture courtesy of ugaldew at Stock.xchng I also added a [...] |
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