fun with sparklers

[Big John]

just a couple of quick snaps of my kids playing with sparklers after the fireworks the other night. I was just fiddling around with the the "slow-sync flash" concept.

[tupe]

Cool! How'd you do that?

[Big John]

I set the camera for a slow exposure (1/2 to 1 second long) and had the flash fire on auto. This illuminated the kids and but still allowed the sparkler trail to show up. It looks like you have a point and shoot camera, which probably has some pre-programmed modes. I took similar pictures to this last year using the "night scene" mode of my kodak dx6490. It was shown on the dial as a small person with a star behind it.

It basically does the exact same thing: It throws out a flash to light the person in the foreground, but then the shutter stays open for awhile longer to allow the background to be exposed. It take a steady hand and a little trial and error, but it lots of fun!