VIEVE wrote in post #12953052
But since I am apparently a glutton for punishment, does anyone have advice for keeping people in focus when getting sparkler shots??? Especially when you aren't using a tripod.
Hi, sorry you seem to have had a bad experience with an idiot sending stupid messages to your website. It is extremely rare that such things would happen with regular forum members, but non members can view the forums and there are plenty of jackasses using the internet.
Anyway, the issue with the shot you posted and your question. It isn't a focus issue it's a combination of camera shake and subject motion blur that has caused the softness, they are in all probability 'in focus'.
You need a longish shutter speed to record the travel of the sparkler (in this case a little under a second). A tripod will keep the camera steady and eliminate the camera shake that you get with handholding for a long period, but the subjects are still moving, with some parts moving more than others. Because the brides arm has moved considerably in that time, in order to draw the heart, it hasn't recorded at all below the elbow making her look like an amputee.
The solution is to use a flash, synched to the second shutter curtain so it fires at the end of the exposure, rather than the beginning (you can set that in the custom functions). Allow the shutter speed to control the ambient light exposure, then the flash fires at the end and effectively takes a frozen image of the couple as it records the scene in a very short period.
What you end up with is the sparkler trails recorded with the ambient (the flash will have no real effect on them) and the couple recorded with the flash, so no motion blur. Although there may be a touch of ghosting visible around them, particularly where the arms are moving, this can just add to the atmosphere and the motion of the shot.
The flash can overide the camera shake from not using a tripod too, if necessary, but expect a little more ghosting if you do that. Using a tripod will give a neater result.
You may need to practice a little just to figure out the balance between flash and ambient, but once you have the technique sorted it will become an easily applied part of your repertoire. If you want to read up more on the technique, and see other examples try googling "dragging the shutter" and that should tell you everything you need to know.
Hope this is what you were after.
Xxx Stormy xxX wrote in post #12953076Well I can't see your EXIF but looks to me like you have room to dial your shutter speed up, for one thing. That way you get less ambient, more sparkler and your image will have less motion blur.
The problem with using a faster shutter speed is the likelihood that the sparklers won't complete the image in time, you need to keep the shutter open long enough for the subjects to 'draw' the heart. That will always allow for motion blur of other parts of the subject too.
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