Sparkler Wrighting

[Pichead]

Sparkler WRITING

First, Cain is my son...

During the 4th Holiday, I bought a few packs of sparklers with this shot in mind.

In a wooded area, I set up my D700 on my Feisol tripod, outfitted with my Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 lens. After several tries (about two packs of sparklers), I got the motion down so that the name was legible (don't forget you have to spell backwards...) and this was achieved with a 10 second exposure @ f2.8.

First, light the sparkler and get into position. Immediately fire off the remote trigger and begin spelling simultaneously. If you time it out right, you'll end the word at the same time as the exposure and neither entry nor exit light trails will be visible. A bonus for me (and possibly my favorite part) was the motion shown in my legs.

Ultimately, it was one of the more time consuming shots I've done (taking about an hour total with all the 'trial & error' shots), but well worth it. And, unless the person's name is long, these make great, unique gifts when printed and framed...

[FuriousE]

Very neat!! I did the same thing this 4th. We did my wife's name, and we did one that said 4th, with three people, each doing a letter. Yours looks better than mine did, though. Nice job!

[Pichead]

I guess you can't change the title once you've submitted it? I was multi-tasking at work and spelled writing incorrectly and now can't seem to change or delete the thread???

[agent_s87]

WOW, this one is amazing!!
i want to try this one out...

Did you play on photoshop (or any other editing software) with it or is this the original?

still, great job, i love this technique

[Pichead]

Originally Posted by agent_s87

WOW, this one is amazing!!
i want to try this one out...

Did you play on photoshop (or any other editing software) with it or is this the original?

still, great job, i love this technique

Thanks. No major Photoshop here... I imported and processed in Aperture and just slightly sharpened the image. Other than that, this is how it looked 'in camera.'

[WAD]

I did this over July 4th weekend. I'll post some results. Just a tip - you don't have to write backwards, just flip it using pretty much any photo editing software.

Walk like an Egyptian

[WAD]

YMCA!