In this short tutorial I will be showing you how you can use laser to create interesting patterns. Although in this tutorial I will be showing you simpler technique which everyone can do to create interesting laser photographs!

You do no need any expensive camera to do this, all you need is a digital camera or even a film camera with atleast 4 seconds shutter speed. Of course, you don’t need to know all this technical information. The camera I will be using is Nikon L120 and a tripod. If you do not have a tripod, it is alright, just be sure you have something to keep your camera on. Because, even slightest movement can ruin the image since we will be using long shutter speed.

The procedure of laser photographs!

Step1: Get your camera and install it on the tripod.

Step 2: Go into camera settings and change the ISO setting to ISO 100 or ISO 200. It is fine if you have ISO 400 but do not go beyond that.

Step 3: Again, go into camera settings and if you have various scene modes such as “landscape” , “portrait”, …etc. try to find the “fireworks” mode. In the fireworks mode, the shutter speed becomes maximum and that is what we want!

If you own a DSLR camera, make the shutter speed about 4 seconds to 8 seconds, or longer if you wish.

Step 4: You need a dark environment! I tried this experiment at night in a dark room with a dim light. You can be creative think of something else.

Step 5: Now comes the laser part! Set up the camera like I said, press the shutter release button (take picture button) and start waving your laser in front of the camera. Now, I have a clean wall in front of me and I pointed my laser on the wall. It doesn’t need to be flat, you can do this even on a rough uneven surface. Even if you have lot of objects in front of you, it is going to be just fine. Check out the images I have taken.

Before you view the actual laser photographs, let me show you the plain image where I will be experimenting. The first image below is the wall that I mentioned before.

From Laser Writing

From Laser Writing

From Laser Writing

You can view the complete collection on my Picasa Web Album.

If you are interesting in more photography related posts, be sure to check this whole bunch of collection and also my special Birds of Mumbai!