If you're like most Americans, you probably still have a quite a few incandescent lightbulbs throughout your home. Cheap, effective, and easy to use, incandescent lightbulbs provide the second most used form of lighting in the world today behind fluorescent bulbs. The history of the incandescent light bulb While Thomas Edison typically gets the credit for the invention of incandescent lightbulbs. He was far from the only person involved in their history. Technology and variations over the years include…

What are today's incandescent lightbulbs made of? Lightbulbs are comprised of a base with two metal contacts. These contacts connect to the ends of an electrical circuit and are attached to two stiff wires, which are then attached to a thin tungsten metal filament (about 6.5 feet long and one-hundredth of an inch thick formed into an inch long coil in the typical 60-watt bulb). The filament sits mid-bulb, held up by a glass mounting structure. The wires and filament are then enclosed in a glass bulb filled with an inert gas, such as argon, to reduce the loss of tungsten due to combustion. When connected to a power supply, current flows from one contact to another, through the wires and on to the filament where they heat up, creating visible light. Why they're being phased out Due to the incandescent light bulb's inefficient nature, which gives off 90 percent of energy as heat and only about 10 percent as visible light, it is giving way to the more advanced and efficient technologies cool light sources such as fluorescents and LEDs. The phase out of these bulbs by the government will help consumers:

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I mean, this is crazy, right?! You can almost FEEL the presence of these weird light dudes as they approach you at a murderously slow pace. Are they astronauts on our own planet? Is this our planet? I was unable to locate a larger version of this photograph, but I still put it at the top because it is incredibly evocative. And that’s not even the real kicker. If you’ve read my other posts on light painting, you know that incredibly long exposure times are necessary for shots like this. So homegirl or homeboy was out in the snow, in the dark, making this thing. And she/he had the wherewithal, tromping through the icy powder, to render these human forms so very well, even making one look like he’s trudging knee-deep. So weirdly inhuman. So weirdly human. I love this photo.

2. Give Up the Ghost

I would never give you a photo of old shoes to look at unless there were something special going on in the picture. In this one, there’s a simple, appropriate message. Ready for it? LIGHT ENHANCES THINGS. Duh, right? This photo is aesthetically interesting, but more valuable to me is the way it shows the essential point of light painting: To have fun! To breathe some excitement into your photography. If your only subject is an old pair of Tims, don’t complain. Turn off the lights and bust out a “paintbrush.”

7. There Are ALMOST No Words for This

Isn’t this great? What I love most is how nonchalant and, well, normal the guy looks in this photo. See? It’s all about juxtaposition. Angel wings mixed with a loud sense of everydayness (he COULD be wearing white robes) make you take notice of the unspoken contradiction. You ask, Why this? And you are led to wonder if maybe this is saying something about how sometimes the people who are the most inconspicuous are the most angelic. See what I did there? That’s why I have chosen these photos from among the hundreds that are out there. They invite wonder and have the power to lead to new insights. I am a dork.

9. Do Not Anger Him/Her/It

* Note: I found these photos on Pinterest and was unable to confirm all of their original sources. So, if you have any information about the original sources for any of these photos, please let us know in the comments sections. We want to give credit for these fantastic light painting photos where it is very much due! Thanks!