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Photos

Scott,

The wife and I are fairly avid photographers, so here goes...

If you want to see lots of spark on the pictures, you need to keep the
shutter open a long time, to capture multiple strikes. So that the rest of
the picture is not over exposed and washed out, you see a lot of pictures
taken in darkened rooms, or outside at dusk/dawn.

This boils down to a slow speed film, and a long exposure, in dark suroundings.

Just how your automatic camera will handle this is something of a question !

If you have a built-in flash, try to disable it or block it out. Some
cameras will try to keep the shutter open until they get enough light for a
good picture, and blocking the flash will sometimes give you the length of
exposure you need.

A lot of the cheaper cameras will just use 1/125 or 1/250 second exposures,
and rely on the dynamic range of print film to cover any sins of the
camera... In this case, good luck ! You won't get anything unless you have a
good rotary gap.

So load up with the slowest print (not slide) film you can find, 64 or 100
ASA, and shoot in a really, really dark area. Try diffrent settings if you
have them and hope for the best !

Even with a good manual camera, it takes a lot of experimentation to get a
good picture !

I've had pretty good luck with a simple Polaroid OneStep camera, if you can
find one at a rummage sale, or whatever. You can set the exposure with a
knob, and you get instant feedback to correct the next shot.

Good shooting and good spark,

Daryl