Sparkler Photography Tutorial

I'm so excited for the 4th of July! There will be cookouts, fireworks, family, and sparkler photography. That's right. Sparkler photography. This is honestly one of my favorite shots. I wait year round to get pictures of sparklers and fireworks! One of the shots with sparklers that I like to do is a slow exposure photograph so that you can draw something out with the sparkler and it will show up like in my picture.

Here is how to take a slow exposure shot of a sparklers:

1. First of all, you'll need to put your camera in manual mode so you can control the settings.  Try out your camera  to see what works best. It's best to put your camera on a tripod for slow exposure shots so you can't see the blur.
2. Your shutter speed should be as least 5 seconds, or long enough to capture whatever you want to draw with the sparkler.
3. It is best to shoot these photos in kind of a twilight light so the person holding the sparkler is a silhouette in the background.
4. The ISO should be 100-200 so the picture is not grainy and to make the sparkler stand out.
5. Now have someone try drawing something with the sparkler! Adjust setting to personal preferences if needed.