Almost all photographers have tried light-painting at least once in their careers, but it is one of the hardest forms of photography to master. It requires creativity, patience and a lot of trial and error. The creativity of these photos can be stimulated by having more tools/lights available, or brushes with which can be painted with light. As one can understand each brush has a different effect on the final result.
While the first steps in light-painting can be done with a simple flashlight, it does not take long to start experimenting with different tools. However most of these tools are handmade which is not suited for everyone. This is where Wave Gap Labs tries to fill the void.
Travis Stevens and Jamie MacDonald, the founders of WaveGap Labs, created a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund their creation, the Litebrush: a simple and easy-to-use light painting tool. The Litebrush is basically a wand with LEDs in it that will paint light trails in an organized patern. The basic version can display 30 LEDs in either green, blue or red color and costs $55. For $100 you can get the pro version which has 12 RGB LEDs that can be set in 20 different colors.
Currently the Kickstarter campaign has raised about $2,000 of a total $40,000 goal. To reach the funding target the Kickstarter project has 37 days left.
To be honest, I find their claim to be an “innovative” light-painting tool rather bold. Almost three years ago I constructed something similar for a total of 13€, by buying an RGB LED strip with controller off eBay and attaching it to a piece of scrap wood, powered with a 9V battery.
I think the real question is if a ready-to-use and professional-looking Litebrush is worth the price difference over a DIY version. For me personally, it is not. What do you think?