There’s a great post (with video) over on Strobist.com on the technique of painting with light. For those unfamiliar, painting with light is when you “draw” light onto the film plane (sensor) by keeping the cameras shutter open in a darkened room and exposing the scene by moving a light source over it. The light source could be continuous, like a flashlight, or flash. I’ve been thinking about applying this technique to portraiture — it could make for some surrealistic shots.

But I digress. The story over on Strobist mentions how photographer Kevin Brown is using the technique to photograph shiny show cars, but he’s using one portable strobe! The results are stunning, and encouraging. I love portable strobes, in fact most of the flash-lit photos on my gallery page were shot using a single wireless Canon flash (with a light modifier) and a reflector.

One day I may graduate myself to using more strobes… but for now, I’m having too much fun with just one. My other strobes are backups.

Here’s an active dialog between Kevin and other Flickr-ers on the technique.