http://www.diyphotography.net/lightpainting-lightsabers
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My latest enthusiasm in photography has been nightwork and lightpainting. A lot of my work is done with a simple pen torch, a flashlight and string, but I wanted to create a broad stroke of colour, a paintbrush rather than a pen effect. Having seen some inspiring ideas online, I decided to try putting one together. The best I had seen had involved paint rollers, but I couldn’t work out how I would use them, so I decided on a simple “light on a stick” design.
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The easy part is choosing the light. Your local car parts store (Halfords, in the UK) will stock a million different types of interior/exterior lighting accessories for cars – neon tubes, LED arrays, short sticks, long wires. While you might not want to “pimp my ride” necessarily, the 12v power supply is ideal. Eight AA batteries will power it beautifully, once supplied with a little ingenuity and electrical engineering (seriously, much easier than it sounds). I soldered my work, but twisting the wires and wrapping them with insulation tape would work just as well. Be warned though, selecting many different colours and styles will be good for you, but confusing for the shop workers. Expect questions as to why you’d be putting both red and green on the same car, for example…
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