Painting with light can be one of the more specialist fields of photography, so there’s lots P of niche equipment available to solve a particular problem, some of which can be rather pricey. The good news is that the essential kit you’ll need to get started with painting with light is all fairly basic stuff that you probably have to hand already – such as an interchangable lens camera, a wide-angle lens, basic flashgun and a few different torches, string lights and coloured gels.
Once you’ve got the hang of light painting, you can then look to upgrade your kit, slowly building it up over time when it’s convenient for you. This spreads the cost and helps you work out from experience which upgrade items will most benefit your painting-with-light photography.
PRO KIT COLOUR GELS
Colour gels, such as this set from Rogue, are coloured sheets of plastic that wrap around the front of the flashgun head to change its colour temperature. This stops the flash looking too white and you can use whatever colour you’d like to illuminate your dark scenes. You can even get creative and layer multiple gels together to build up the colour or mix them together.
PRO KIT COLOUR GELS
Colour gels, such as this set from Rogue, are coloured sheets of plastic that wrap around the front of the flashgun head to change its colour temperature. This stops the flash looking too white and you can use whatever colour you’d like to illuminate your dark scenes. You can even get creative and layer multiple gels together to build up the colour or mix them together.