Light Painting
Illuminating a scene, or drawing in the air, with a moving light source during a long exposure.
Measured in
seconds
In depth
With the camera on a tripod in near darkness, the photographer becomes the lighting: sweeping a torch across a subject builds the exposure progressively and gives complete control over where light falls. Anything moving continuously, including the person holding the light, records only faintly or not at all.
Examples in practice
A four-minute exposure of a derelict building, lit torch-sweep by torch-sweep, shows illumination no single flash could provide.