Wedding Sparkler Uses

I have a relative who will be having a late evening wedding and have

purchased wedding sparklers to use as they exit the church instead

of the more common bubbles, bird seed, or rice. I have seen some

photos of these being used, but I am interested in any ideas you

have for a nice portrait shot or something special.

 

I thought I saw a B&G using these to shape a heart infront of them,

but they didn't seem blurred by there motion,.. any ideas how that

was done? I was thinking a small pop from a fill flash would be

used, but any tips would be appreciated.

 

I am shooting digital with a Canon 10D.

they generate so much smoke that it's often difficult to do anything with them at all.

go ambient only for good results. buy a pack before the date and give it a try.

 

conrad

whoops - I'll try again.<div></div>

The small pop of fill flash with a long shutter speed will give you time for some quick motion shots....would suggest each hold their own and do some twirls to the outside edges, having the couple kiss while others twirl could also be fun. A word of caution tho, the hardest part is getting the timing right, each sparkler doesn't last all that long so between getting them all lit at about the same time and getting the b/g to walk through, you have a small window of time....

For the heart picture, you pick a background that is black--not hard outside, and where there is no bright ambient light on the couple. You use a long shutter speed and hit the couple with the flash when they are kissing and with their arms together above them. When the exposure starts, tell them to kiss and then make the heart shape. They might have to practice a little--you want them to be somewhat timed to each other and the motion has to end before your shutter closes. You could use bulb. If you have a really black background, it should be no problem, and you wouldn't even need a tripod since the flash will freeze the couple. Otherwise, for the escape, most of the image is managing the guests to form the row with enough sparklers left to make the picture and yet keep the smoke going away from the camera. Once the couple is charging down the row, just snap away with a little shutter drag and flash. There have been several posts in the past about this topic but the search function doesn't seem to remember these.

For senior portrait a couple weeks ago, 20d, 1.3" f4.0, 17mm, flash (don't recall setting, but probably -1/3), 400 iso, and of course tripod and shutter release. There was some minor ACR adjustments, but just to grab a little of the sky.

 

We instructed her to stand still except to move the sparklers around at random. The flash froze her pretty well. Obviously, the time of day/night will make a difference in your situation.

 

Practice a little.<div></div>

Thanks for the tips,.. I'll post how it turns out.

Just like nadine said.<div></div>

For a subject with a sparkler, there are two exposures that have to be taken into account. The first is the sparkler. If it's moving it the same exposure as for fireworks, which is about f11 for ISO 400 - the shutter speed doesn't effect exposure. The flash provides the light for the subject, and moving sparklers don't light subjects real well, so it's more than a "pop" or fill flash.<div></div>

Well, thank you for the tips, here is a small sample of how it turned out this weekend. Surprisingly, the couple did the heart shape on the first try! We did a dry run without the sparklers lit to review the idea, but it turned out great!

 

Canon 10D, shutter set at 2.0 seconds, f11, with a Qflash set down to 1/32 to help "freeze" them initially.<div></div>

Nice Robert, I'm glad you got the shot. Hope others who contributed to the thread had a chance to see your results...wonder if it would be a good idea to start a new thread and show the photo along with a link to some of the other results and out-takes.

My variant: http://demo.fotopic.net/p36030341.html

Try Tv mode and 1/2 to 2s.