Wedding couple in front Fireworks

Gaily · February 21, 2010

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum.
I have a wedding where the bride is surprising the groom with fireworks.
I have never photographed fireworks with a bride and groom.
I would like to see the bride and groom as well as the fireworks.
Any tips?

Scott_Quier · February 22, 2010

This is two photos in one. The first is the fireworks and the second is the couple.

To get the fireworks - I've never done this, but I know that google is your friend - a lot of folks have done this an posted results and techniques.

The second photo - the couple. If there is light around, it will illuminate your couple for you. You just have to caution them not to move too much. Of course, you life will be easier if they (the couple) are not lit by house lights or something; in which case you can just pop a flash at either the start or the end of the exposure. Depending on the color of the ambient light, I think you may want to look into gelling your flash a bit - but that's a whole other discussion.

Gaily · February 22, 2010

Fireworks
Thank you Scott,
I was thinking along those lines.
Gail

heatherfeather · February 22, 2010

Hopefully Shima will pop in here at some point since she did a wedding not too long ago where there was a shot just like you describe. She had a longish exposure with no flash and she hand held. She must have some kind of steady hands, cause I sure am not that steady. The shot was gorgeous, though.

tenoverthenose · February 22, 2010

I've never actually shot people in front of fireworks (fireworks and yosemite don't mix), but it's the same principal as shooting people in front of anything else. Expose your frame for the fireworks (ambient) and use artificial light (flash) for the couple. If it were me, I would put the couple in an area where there is no ambient light (or as close as possible) to make the shot easier. Then work out the exposure you want for the fireworks and add a flash on the couple to bring them in the shot. I would imagine this is going to be a longer exposure, so a tripod might be a good idea.

OR

Cheat. Shoot the fireworks in the sky with nothing else in the frame. Shoot the couple against a black background. Photochop. This way gives you tons of options and a solid backup plan - you might not even tell the couple this is your plan.

Moogle Pepper · February 22, 2010

heatherfeather wrote:

Hopefully Shima will pop in here at some point since she did a wedding not too long ago where there was a shot just like you describe. She had a longish exposure with no flash and she hand held. She must have some kind of steady hands, cause I sure am not that steady. The shot was gorgeous, though.

She has steady hands. She went through training, think martial arts.

Scott_Quier · February 22, 2010

tenoverthenose wrote:

I've never actually shot people in front of fireworks (fireworks and yosemite don't mix), but it's the same principal as shooting people in front of anything else. Expose your frame for the fireworks (ambient) and use artificial light (flash) for the couple. If it were me, I would put the couple in an area where there is no ambient light (or as close as possible) to make the shot easier. Then work out the exposure you want for the fireworks and add a flash on the couple to bring them in the shot. I would imagine this is going to be a longer exposure, so a tripod might be a good idea.

Hmmmm .... now where did I just read that? Oh, I remember .... it was in this thread just a couple or three posts up! Great minds think alike!

tenoverthenose wrote:

OR

Cheat. Shoot the fireworks in the sky with nothing else in the frame. Shoot the couple against a black background. Photochop. This way gives you tons of options and a solid backup plan - you might not even tell the couple this is your plan.

Would make a good photo, but it wouldn't be representative of their memory of the day - they would remember being posed in front of the fireworks. They would remember the portrait on a backdrop. But, to carry this thought to the next level, shoot them against a chroma backdrop to make the photochop job that much easier?

Foques · February 22, 2010

only thing I can think of (and i'm limited in skill!!) is to set the camera as if you are shooting the fireworks but keep the ground (couple) in focus.

You will want a slow exposure, so when the fireworks explodes, release the flash (or use an LED 8000K flashlight) to expose the couple..

Or shoot in rear curtain sync?

Blurmore · February 22, 2010

While I don't have any examples, I set lights for this scenario in the bad ole film days. There is a cheap/easy way and a very cool but more involved way. Lets start with the fireworks, you need a tripod. Good fireworks exposures are anywhere between 1 and 5 seconds. These were shot on 100 speed fuji Astia.

it is necessary to let the firework "bloom" and to catch more than one at a time is a nice touch.

This is actually a 20 second exposure I hand held (I was laying on the ground).

So anywho that is how you shoot the fireworks if they are a big professional production. If they are backyard fireworks YMMV. Why? Because most backyard fireworks burn out quicker, and the amateur pyros people put a long time between shots.

Now on to the people. People...can not stand still, check out people in church...like amber waves of grain. People move....a lot even when you tell them to stand still. That is why civil war era portraits have freaky eyes, and why you should NOT try to light paint them with a flashlight.

You are going to want to shoot the fireworks at low ISO (100-200) unless it is PITCH black out with NO ambient light. Now here is the key and why this task may be easier than you ever thought, a flash is momentary, it freezes action. Set your camera on a tripod ISO 100 for 5 seconds to start. Open the shutter when you here the shell go off or when you here more than one. Tell your couple ahead of time to try to stand still. Count to 3 and then manually discharge a hand held flash or speed light at full power. You can try moving away from the camera, experiment but make sure that you are aiming at them and firing just before the shutter closes. You can do a lot in 5 seconds. Check you exposure if you are weak run closer, if you are hot turn down or backup...because you'll be shooting at ISO 100 in the dark...chances are you will NOT be too heavy. So why at the end of the exposure? You are manually slow syncing, very little pre flash movement of the subject will be recorded. The key is to get them to stand as slow as you possibly can and get the flash on them well. So the more complex way? Same thing but with 2-3 strobes and a radio trigger. Using/experimenting with gridding your flash to make a spot light can make very cool results too....Make sure you get quality fireworks shots without them, and dark background portraits...and if all else fails...there is always photoshop.

Gaily · February 22, 2010

fireworks
Thank you all for you advice on the wedding/firework shots.
You have all given me very useful information.

rpcrowe · February 22, 2010

To piggyback on blurmore...
Your f/stop will control the flash intensity while the shutter speed will control the intensity of the fireworks.

Generally commercial fireworks need about an f/8 exposure. If you set your camera to manual f/8 with shutter speed at a fairly long duration. probably a couple of seconds. With the flash set on ETTL (Evaluative Through the lens metering for Canon - I am not sure what other manufacturers call it.) you should get a fairly decent exposure. It would probably be best to use second curtain sync, if your camera has this capability.

If your couple is in a dark area and doesn't have much ambient light on them, the short flash duration will freeze any slight motion and the longer exposure will allow the fireworks to register. Hit the shutter release (best to use a remote release) as soon as the fireworks bursts.

You may need to dial down your flash exposure to a -1 or -2 stops.

You will need to place yourself and your couple in position so that the fireworks are to their rear.

Test-Pilot · February 22, 2010

rpcrowe wrote:

Your f/stop will control the flash intensity while the shutter speed will control the intensity of the fireworks.

Generally commercial fireworks need about an f/8 exposure. If you set your camera to manual f/8 with shutter speed at a fairly long duration. probably a couple of seconds. With the flash set on ETTL (Evaluative Through the lens metering for Canon - I am not sure what other manufacturers call it.) you should get a fairly decent exposure. It would probably be best to use second curtain sync, if your camera has this capability.

If your couple is in a dark area and doesn't have much ambient light on them, the short flash duration will freeze any slight motion and the longer exposure will allow the fireworks to register. Hit the shutter release (best to use a remote release) as soon as the fireworks bursts.

You may need to dial down your flash exposure to a -1 or -2 stops.

You will need to place yourself and your couple in position so that the fireworks are to their rear.

Good advice.

Use your flash to expose for the people in the foreground; and definitely use a slow(er) rear curtain sync to expose properly for the fireworks in the background.

Ed911 · February 23, 2010

Test-Pilot wrote:

Good advice.

Use your flash to expose for the people in the foreground; and definitely use a slow(er) rear curtain sync to expose properly for the fireworks in the background.

Exactly my thoughts...set the shutter speed, f-stop, and low ISO for the fireworks, then set your flash for rear curtain and let the iTTL, eTTL, or whatever fire the flash and capture the correct exposure for the couple in the foreground. You could and maybe should move your flash off the camera and shoot in commander mode, Nikon, so that you get some nice lighting on your subjects.

Here's a link, with another technique, with pictures.

http://neilvn.com/tangents/2007/06/14/shooting-technique-flash-fireworks/

Hope this helps.

Gaily · March 7, 2010

Thank you Ed.
This is very helpful.

JohnBiggs · March 8, 2010

I've done this. Use a Tripod obviously. Get an interval timer for the camera and work out the ambient exposure.

Hold the flash in your hand and while the shutter is open, press the button on the flash. You can move away from the camera since it's controlled by timer and light the bride and groom from all kinds of different angles for dramatic effects.

While we were shooting the fireworks, the primary photographer's flash died. I'm not sure what her technique was but I told her to set her camera to a similar setting as mine and she was able to use the same hand held flash pulse for her own work. She was nikon and I am canon, but that doesn't matter.

Danspage · March 8, 2010

I'm with John above.

Below is all fake just for fun. I hope yours turn out great. I did tone down the bride and groom to make it look more real like. I think you should under expose the B.G. or your real photo may look fake. Fireworks were done at f6.7 to f16 from 3 to 6 seconds, watch your ambient light and movement. If you use off camera flash you will still have to have fill in the shadows if it is very dark.

Wedding couple in front Fireworks

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