Light trails are a very fun thing to create and I was able to do some experiments on the 4th of July. About 10 boxes of sparklers appeared and what do you do when you combine sparklers and long exposures? Super cool light trails!

The Set-Up

I had to do some experimenting to get the settings just right, but here’s how I did it.

1. Set your SLR (this works with both digital and film) to Shutter Priority. This tells the camera that you want to tell it how slow the shutter speed will be, and the camera will then choose the proper exposure (f/stop) for the picture.
2. Set your shutter speed for 10 seconds. This is a good place so start as you experiment with different exposure times. Long exposures will give you the time to create cool patterns, but you run the risk of grainy pictures. Shorter exposures (under 5 seconds) will be crisper and the blacks will be richer, but may not give you the time for elaborate patterns.
3. Place your camera on a tripod or sand bag. I used Amy’s Omnipod beanbag. Compose the picture so the background is right and make a mark on the ground where you want to stand.
4. Light up the sparklers and get a friend to push the shutter button. You can also use the automatic timer or remote if you have one.
5. Decide upon what kind of pattern you would like to make and continue doing it throughout the 10 seconds of your exposure. Voila!

Not Just Sparklers

If you don’t have sparklers around, you can also use candles, LED flashlights, flashlight bulbs (just take the head off a Mag-light), or even a lighter to make pictures like this.

If you would like to create more complex designs, try extending the shutter time to 15 seconds. At some point, the image will take on a grainy, milky look if the exposure is too long, depending upon the ambient light in the area where you are shooting.

Experiment!

For this shot of lines across the frame, I used a 15-second exposure, and ran back and forth like a crazy person in front of the camera. It was kind of hilarious. The neighbors must have thought I was a loon. The twinkle lights in the background help to give the rest of the scene a context, instead of a completely black background, but that could be fun to experiment with as well.