Here’s how to light paint a skull to make spooky Halloween images

First, it’s not a real skull, don’t worry. But Jason D. Page over at Light Painting Brushes did manage to find a good looking one at his local Home Depot. With Halloween coming up, he thought what better than to light paint to create a spooky Halloween image?

Naturally, Jason made a video showing us how he made the image, and how we can make one for ourselves. In the video, Jason walks you through his process, the gear, the final technique and the timing for the long exposure shots.

Various tools are used to make the image, including the Light Painting Brushes Fibre Optic Brush, a Light Writer pen brush, and a custom filter holder he made to create that yellow-orange glow that looks like fire and burning embers. For the light source, Jason used the Folomov B4M flashlight.

Jason takes a good five minutes to explain the techniques and principles involved in making each of the individual elements of the image before getting into the actual shooting. That way, when he opens up the shutter, he can create the final image in-camera in just one 120-second long exposure without having to do any compositing in post – the goal of all light painters!

It’s worth watching if you’re interested in light painting, even if you don’t want to create an image exactly like this, as it’s packed with a lot of good tips on how to achieve certain looks with light painting.

So there you have it, one spooky and awesome light painted Halloween skull!