What is it?

This is a RGBW LED shield for an Arduino Pro-Mini, I call it the Light Painters Palette. Long exposure photography and light painting are tons of fun! This board can be used to "light paint" anything you want to take a picture of essentially any color. It has three slide switches and two potentiometers as input. Changing the states of the switches put the board into different modes. It has flashing, fading, and even remote control modes. Turning the shafts on the potentiometers select the color and speed. The best part is that its built on the Arduino platform, so if you think of and code a different mode for it, its readily re-programmable. This version comes all put together, all that is needed is a 9V battery and a rubber band. The Arduino on it has been uploaded with the code from the video.

Why did you make it?

Most light painting is done with the light being pointed at the camera. The light streaks produced by that point source are a focal point of the photo. This device opens a whole new realm of light painting. It allows you to point the light away from the camera, on the object your taking a photo of. The camera then captures the reflected light off the object. You 'paint' objects the colors you want them to be. This way you can walk along a fence and have each post be a different color, or through the forest and have each tree be a different color. Light painting is one of the most creative types of photography, and this device opens even more doors in that world.

What makes it special?

This board is a one of a kind. It allows the user to select the colors and adjust the patterning to create whatever lightscape they want. If you want that rock red, that tree blue, and that person green you just turn the knob and aim the LED's. It has ultrabright 10mm LED's, simple user friendly input, and custom open source software. Its built on the Arduino platform which allows custom light programs. The possibilities are endless!