Have you ever tried painting with light? Yes, you’ve heard us right. It is not a figure of speech, and it is actually possible to draw with light if you have a good camera and a tripod. All you have to do is to set your camera on a tripod in a dark place (preferably at night in some park), set exposure time to the max, turn on a single bright light (the screen of your mobile phone will do), and you can start painting. Darren Pearson is a photographer who specializes in making such drawings. The level of intricacy with which he creates his paintings is astounding, considering the fact that making such a drawing is like painting with a blindfold on.

French artist Julien Breton aka Kaalam started calligraphy in 2001 by copying Arabic calligraphers. Self-taught, he began to incorporate long exposure photography to create incredible light paintings around the world. All of the images in this gallery were created in-camera, meaning there is no Photoshop trickery or post-production manipulation involved in creating these works of art.

Stunning images taken by Sean Lenz, 19, and Kristoffer Abligaard, 20, show picturesque waterfalls transformed into vibrant rainbows of colour. The awe-inspiring images were created by clever use of long exposure photography and glow sticks floating through water. Photo: Picturesque waterfalls transformed into rainbows of colour. (Photo by Sean Lenz/Kristoffer Abildgaard)

Light painting photographer Trevor Williams, also known as TDUB303, is a present day light painting pioneer. He creates some of his light painting imagery alone and also works with the group Fiz-iks, which he founded. Trevor is from Canada, he has lived in Japan since 2002 which is where he creates the majority of his work. His light painting images are produced with special attention to location, Trevor says, ““If you want to take an epic picture you need to go to an epic location.”

These stunning light art pictures of skateboarding skeletons were created by Darren Pearson from Los Angeles. He works as a full time illustrator by day and by night he explores the varying landscapes of California in search of the perfect scene for his light-sculptures. Pearson makes complex light-effect photographs, none of which are photoshopped. He describes the work as location-based light art. Photo: A light skateboarder grinding a rail. (Photo by Darren Pearson/Caters News)

Light painting photographer Michael Bosanko has been capturing light since 2004. He discovered light painting on accident, Michael says this of his moment of discovery, “the moon formed part of the scene, but the camera shake caused the moon to make a streak.