This is creative photography on a shoestring. Literally!

This is a physiogram, created by swinging a torch, on a piece of string, from the ceiling, with an upward-facing camera below it.

The torch I used was a Maglite Solitaire. You can remove the end so that the bulb is naked ("Candle Mode" I think they call it). Cost me £9 but should come in handy in the kit bag for my nights shoots. There are some other uses I've found for it as well, more on that later.

It's probably obvious to some of you how this effect is created, but I'll go over it anyway.

1. Wait for everyone to go to bed so you have a room to yourself.


2. Tie an old shoelace to the light-fitting in the centre of the room.


3. Tie the torch (in "candle mode") to the lower end.


4. Place your camera on its back on a table directly below the torch.


5. Close the curtains and turn all lights off.


6. Set the torch swinging in an arch shape.


7. Preferrably with a remote-release switch, open the camera in bulb mode (or for as long as it will allow if you don't have that option).


8. As the torch nears the end of its journey close the shutter.

There's a bit more to it than that, but there's the basics. You need to get the camera in focus first, which can be tricky. You also need to get adequate distance between torch and camera to capture enough of the movement to make an image. About three feet in this case with the camera zoomed right out to 18mm. The string itself was also about three feet long.

I was surprised how well this came out considering it was my first go and I only tried about a dozen in total. More of them to follow.