I have been asked a few times how I did this photo. I mentioned doing this with a group of friends. Our friends, the Murphy's, host a friends' weekend at their lake house, near Wolcottvile, IN. So, we had enough people to spell Fish Lake, add an exclamation point and a festive arch. I explained to everyone earlier in the day the plan. It was pretty hard to explain and persuade everyone how it would look. Thanksfully, everyone is a good sport. I told them they were each responsible for a letter. The letter would have to be written backwards, so that when the photo is taken, the letter appears correct.
I set my camera for a long exposure. These means the shutter would stay open for a certain amount of time. I opted for 20 seconds. This is for all camera geeks: f/13, ISO 200, 24 mm. Next, we grouped the people together by the word they were going to spell out. We had two lighters for 10 people. I only brought 12 sparklers, so we had one shot to get this.
I set my camera for a two second delay and then placed it on a tripod. The delay and tripod allow for the image to be very crisp. Any movement would have shown on the final image with such a long exposure. We counted down from three, lit the sparlers and I hit the shutter release button. And after writing a letter for 20 seconds, the above image is the fianl result!
