Word.ws English Dictionary

light painting

light painting noun: the artistic technique of moving a light source to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or scene a camera is recording (at a slow shutter speed), or to shine directly into the camera and in this way sketch.

light painting: the artistic technique of moving a light source to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or...
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Noun

light painting (countable and uncountable, plural light paintings)

  1. (uncountable) The artistic technique of moving a light source to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or scene a camera is recording (at a slow shutter speed), or to shine directly into the camera and in this way sketch.
  2. (uncountable) Camera painting, the artistic technique of moving a camera (while it records at a low shutter speed) such that light sources appear in multiple places or as streaks in the resulting photograph, the "painting".
  3. (countable) A painting created using one of these techniques.
  4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see light, painting.
    • This key has slightly more midtone but is still a light painting.2011, Jo Taylor, Watercolour Wisdom, page 92

Forms of light painting

plurallight paintings

Questions about light painting

What does light painting mean?
Light painting means the artistic technique of moving a light source to selectively illuminate parts of the subject or scene a camera is recording (at a slow shutter speed), or to shine directly into the camera and in this way sketch.
What part of speech is light painting?
Light painting is a noun.
What is the plural of light painting?
The plural of light painting is light paintings.

Words near light painting in the dictionary

  1. light operas
  2. light orange
  3. light organ
  4. light organs
  5. light out
  6. light painting
  7. light paintings
  8. light panel
  9. light panels
  10. light paper
  11. light papers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: light painting (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “light painting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/light_painting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.