[smarti77]

I want to try to take some fun photos such as the ones on this site:

sparkler photos

I found lots of examples but could not find any helpful 'how to's" or techinique information.
Has anyone tried this? Got any examples?
Anyone got any links for a 'how to" or their own technique?

[shuttertalk]

Hey Smarti... I've done it before....

There's not much to it... just set up a tripod and when the shutter is open, swing the sparkler wildly to draw the shapes. For those where outlines magically appear - set a longer exposure and get someone to run in and trace the outline of the person. As long as they're moving quickly, you shouldn't see them in the frame.

[byrt_001]

hehehehe

done it

[NT73]

hehehehe

done it

How does this help smarti?

[Kombisaurus]

Hey Smarti,

Jules is spot-on. All you need is a tripod, very long exposure, and not much ambient light.
I haven't done any actual sparkler photos, but here are a couple of similar experiments of mine using a cigarette lighter as the only light source.

These shots were taken outside on a dark night at 50mm, f/8, 100 ISO with a 13 second exposure.
For best results use a tripod and on the camera use mirror lockup and a remote trigger (or self-timer).





Its a lot of fun, even for the relatively tame shots such as mine.. those sparkler shots you linked to looked fantastic!

[byrt_001]

hehehehe

done it

How does this help smarti?

come on...experiment..play around

photography is about having fun....and discovering new ways to do it.
these days with digital you have no waste...

take care

christian

[shuttertalk]

these days with digital you have no waste...

except time, maybe...

[NT73]

hehehehe

done it

How does this help smarti?

come on...experiment..play around
photography is about having fun....and discovering new ways to do it.
these days with digital you have no waste...
take care
christian

Others have answered the question, Now smarti may play and experiment.

This was done by switching off the light, setting the camera to night mode and self timer, propping it on the shelf and waving a blue led key ring light around. If I had with this camera more than 2.5 secs, I could have been more creative. But.......hence new camera.

[Kombisaurus]

oops.. forgot to add something.

It may be a good idea to manually focus on the plane where you intend to "paint" the light and use a tighter aperture than normal to try to keep the sparks in focus. Otherwise the camera will probably focus on the background and your masterpiece will be out of focus.