How to Capture Writing With Sparklers

Hey all!! With it being the forth of July, here's a helpful "How to" post for capturing a cool new photo trend on the forth. I am of course, referring to

Writing with Sparklers!!

Here's how to achieve a picture such as this one with my family being super patriotic!

1.) You need a tri-pod. Or something that you can set your camera on that will not move. Set your camera up so that all the subjects can be seen.

2.) Crank the the shutter speed down until its low. If you speak photography language, or own a DSLR, you will understand what this means. In normal people speak, that means that the speed in which the shutter opens and closes to take the picture will be really slow. You know how you usually hear a "click,click" when the picture is being taken? Now it should sound like "click....... wait for it.....click". This is important, because in between the first click and the second click, the camera is capturing all the movement of the light and blending it together. If you don't own a fancy camera, I believe this can be done with a point and shoot. You might just need to pull out your manual and find out how to adjust the shutter speed. 

3.) Have everyone line up and light their sparklers and stand completely still. Press the button, and have everyone draw their letter/shape. Just have them continue to retrace their letter until the camera does the second click.

**Disclaimer: Your letters need to be done backwards if you are trying to spell something out. My Number 4 (cough cough, little sister Emily) needed a couple of tries because she was drawing it the correct way, but it looked backwards on the camera. 

And that's all, folks! Obviously depending on how elaborate your sentences are, it might take a few tries, but its easy to figure out. 

For those who do speak photography speak, this picture was taken at:

1600 ISO

5" Shutter Speed. That held the shutter open for approximately 5 seconds.

1.8 F-stop.

And my white balance was on auto.

I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions comment below I and I would love to attempt to answer, and just because it's cute, here's a picture of my 2 year old cousin watching fireworks for the first time:

AWWW. He was soo cute! Anyway, Happy Forth of July!! I hope everyone spent it eating hot dogs, watching baseball, doing sparklers and fireworks, and other American stuff! Have a great rest of the day!