Calhan Painted Mines, Colorado, USA, 2022

Creating a Moebius Strip symbolizes my endless love for the outdoors and my fascination for geology. In the western part of the US, you find an endless supply of amazing Landscapes for Light Painting. What you see here is a single-exposure Light Painting with a 105-second open shutter. The Camera was set to ISO 100 and the Laowa 12mm Zero D F2.8 Lens was set to F11.

Where was that? Just east of Colorado Springs is a small village called Calhan. Again just a few miles outside the village you find a parking lot and some walks to explore an area that is known as Calhan Painted Mines.

Horca del Inca, Copacabana at Titicaca Lake, Bolivia, 2019

Horca del Inca or Pachakata Is a pre-Incan astronomical observatory located on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca in Copacabana, a known area and departure base for most tours related to Inca culture. The megalithic work was wrongly named as “Inca Gallow” and only in the 70s, a researcher discover its real purpose: solstice, the sunbeams light through the lintel of the thrilictic structure, marking the Ayamara New Year. 7 structures used to be in place for astronomical studies, this is the last one remaining standing. In fact, Pachakata in Aymara language means “place to measure time”

The total exposure time of this Light Painting is 161sec. at ISO 100 using F6.3 on 24mm with the 24-105mm F4 Canon Lens.

Lone Juniper at the Penguin Rock in Joshua National Park, USA, 2025

Here, you see one of the Light Paintings of the spot I got to explore with some local friends, Ingrid and Foss, who joined in for the first Milky Way shots of the year. We had to wait way past midnight, but I think it was worth it.

Alien Egg Hatchery, Bisti Badlands, New Mexico, 2022

In the pursuit of a milky way shots and exploring the Bistibadlands Alien Eggs are hatching. This shot is taken during the blue hour and shows this outer-worldly landscape. There are many more cool shots that you can also see in the Video I created for the visit.

Maryhill Stonehenge, Washington, USA, 2019

In the pursuit of a milky way shot at Maryhill Stonehenge in Washington upstate USA, Dan Chick and I played with the lens flare effect. Shooting the light at the right angle with the light intensity gave me this wonderful ‘W’ like lens flair shape I have never seen before. But before shining the light into the camera, my friend Dan would light up the structure in red for just a few seconds. The entire procedure took 32 seconds ISO 1600, first at F9 for the red light and the flair and then the remaining time at F2.8 for the Milky way on my Laowa 12mm Zero D Lens.

Li River, Xingping, China, 2017

That’s my building / creating Light Painting sailing boats at the Li River in Xingping, China … In the Proces I created about 9 shots. What you see here is actually the very first attempt. I did not even wear black clothes yet. If you look closely you see that I had an orange shirt on. If the water was a little more still and not running the reflection would have come out a little more. Here its a great effect because the viewer understands its a river. See the article on  “Use reflections in your photos”
The mountains on the other side of the river I lit up with a LED-Lenser X21.r.2.

The total exposure time is 132 sec. at ISO 1250 using F5.6 on 19mm with the 16-35mm F2.8 Canon Lens.

Castle Oybin, Saxony, Germany, 2019

What you see are the remains of the castle part of the structure on the hill in Oybin. There is a monastery and a castle on a 514m tall rock formation, build in the 13th century.
The ruins were lit up with the useful LED-Lenser MT18 and a smaller orange LED torch made by my friend Sven Gerard from Lichtkunstphoto. The total exposure time is 185 sec. at ISO 320 using F8 on the Laowa12mm F2.8 ZeroD.

Rakotzbrücke, Kromlau, Germany, 2016

This place is all about reflections. It was build because of that ideal circle created by the reflection in the water. See the article “Use reflections in your photos”

What you see is a single exposure of 496 sec. at F4.0 on ISO 100, 33mm. The shot means actually quite a bit of running for me: first light up the left side of the lake, then run over to the left and shine the light to the right. After that, I ran all the way to the bridge and light the far back area of the lake. Done Bam! Photo ready 8)

Sounds very exhausting = is exactly that.

Okinawa, Japan, 2018

Is that a Seascape or Landscape Light Painting. As if that would matter. I love the place and the shot. A quick and simple Light Painting Swirl in the waters of Okinawa.

Landscape Light Painting at White Pocket, Arizona, USA, 2018

For this Light Painting I used my DJI Mavic Pro drone as a carrier for a light source – and I did crash it into the mountain right after that shot. Grrrrr
Anyhow it’s flying again – not as nice but can be of some use. The photo you see is 19sec single exposure, ISO 1600 with my manual 14mm F2.8 lens.

Do you want to explore the world of Light Painting from above? See Drone Light Painting by Gunnar Heilmann.