With the Fourth of July coming up, it occurred to us that sparkler photos would be a great way to commemorate the holiday. If you're a photography buff, then you've no doubt tried this or something similar. But if you've never taken a sparkler photo, it's actually pretty easy.
Basically, it's long exposure photography. While the camera shutter is open, you can draw pictures or words with the light from a sparkler. You can find lots of tutorials on the web, like this one and this one. There's also a Sparklers Flickr group that has over a thousand photos to inspire you. See what you and your kids can come up with!
(Image: Katie Steuernagle)
- Katie Steuernagle
(Re-edited from a post originally published on 7.02.2010 - CM)
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Sorry to be a wet blanket, but as a public safety advocate I think it's important to remind viewers that consumer fireworks, including sparklers, are a major injury risk and are discouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Fire Protection Association and many other allied groups.
About 7,000 people are injured each 4th weekend, with the highest risk being to children.
Anyone interested in details can visit http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=297.
Yes, you are a wet blanket. Why don't we just plop all of our kids in front of the tv to shield them from everything that can hurt them, oh wait, that's bad too......
COOL!!!!! I would love to try this but it might require reading my camera's manual. Maybe I can get my 12-year old to do that for me...while the one- and three-year old are posing with sparklers. HAA! Just kidding Krikkit. Wet blanket, perhaps; mildly annoying, perhaps. However, a good reminder to be careful never hurts. It IS awfully easy to think of sparklers as safe and harmless, for some reason.
This would be really fun if sparklers were legal in our city.
Sparklers can be illegal? That is the worste thing I've heard in a long time!
@Krikkit - I couldn't agree more! I live in part of the country where fires are currently raging in 3 areas. Our firefighters are maxed out and the air is filled with smoke. All fireworks shows for the 4th have been cancelled. A wet blanket, maybe? But protecting people, property and our beautiful wild spaces is more important this year.
always wanted to try this...maybe this year!
I still dont know how to do this but have friends who do!