Spirographs are a great light painting project for photographers and light painters of all skill levels. The basics are fairly simple hang a light source from a string above your camera, turn off the lights, give the hanging light a swing and then open the shutter of your camera and create some magic! These types of images are also known physiograms or harmonographs. Spirograph are complex looking light painting that are really easy to create. This is an excellent project for teachers that are interested in sharing the light painting art form with their students, they are super fun and easy to create!
Here is a video tutorial I made using the Light Painting Brushes https://lightpaintingbrushes.com Below the video I will post some tips and if you have any questions please ask in the comments I am happy to help!
Settings:
Bulb Mode
ISO 100
F-16
How to focus: You can focus a few different ways but the easiest is to simply get down to about table level then pull focus on the hanging light source, after you achieve focus with the lights on make sure to switch the focus on your lens to manual mode to lock the focus in. If you want to get super precise you can measure the distance from the hanging light source to your camera then set the focus manually using the distance.
Swinging Motion: If you combine a back and forth swinging motion with a slight circular motion you will get some interesting complex patterns.