fireworks

fraincs · July 13, 2006

ive read a lot about fireworks photography, i got an idea and im wondering if this could work. I was planning to find my spot, set my camera on a tripod. take a picture of the scene an hour before the fireworks then not move the tirpod and take another exposure with the fireworks on.

then merge both pictures. in order to get details in the buildings as well as nice looking fireworks. do-able???

gluwater · July 14, 2006

Just expose for the buildings and the fireworks will work well in one shot. I think taking a shot in the day and then the fireworks at night would just look unatural.

Shay Stephens · July 14, 2006

Fireworks play off of the surroundings in cool ways. So taking your photo in one shot will be more dynamic for sure (it's easier too).

From a wedding last week:

fraincs · July 14, 2006

http://www.victorialodging.com/victoria/images/symphony-splash-fireworks.jpg

I meant something like that.

thanks for the tips. will try regular fireworks shot first

fraincs · July 16, 2006

found a way, HDR

http://static.flickr.com/62/186164428_2f4a251f39_b.jpg

will try soon

phuong · July 16, 2006

you idea has been thought of long time ago since the day of film (double exposure, super impose, etc) but now it's a tad easier to do. in fact many fireworks photographers do this alot.
you take a shot of the scene at a nice time (or even at the time of the event) WITHOUT the fireworks. and then you can freele turn the camera away and take all the fireworks you like, and cut and paste them later into the scnene you previously took.

example:
taken at the International fireworks festival on the opening day. the event starts at 10PM when the sky is really dark. also the lights at the park below will be turned all off. i get to the spot at about 8:30 and framed the scene. the sky came out pretty nice. after that i took the real fireworks shot and found this one pretty nice, so i cut and imposed it in the scene. the sky of the fireworks was pitch black, so it's easily be deleted by changing blending mode to Screen.

fraincs · July 16, 2006

thanks phuong im from montreal btw

looking foward shooting those

:

phuong · July 16, 2006

alternatively if you are a purist, do what gluwater suggests, but this only works at a fairly bright place. basically set the camera at B mode as usual, open the apperture so that the fireworks wouldnt be overexposed - this takes time & experiences - and here's the key: metter the scene (without fireworks) to estimate the exposure. if you're lucky it'll fall between 2-4 seconds (if it's not then bump up the ISO until it is. but remember to close aperture further or else fireworks will be overexposed). when you shoot, estimate every shots so that it'll be within this range. et voila, buildings aren't dark, and fireworks are in correct exposure. a little noisy if you had to use high iso, but with a Canon 20D or so you dont have to worry untill it's iso800. even if you had to use iso800 or 1600, it's easily be cleaned by noise reducer softwares.

fraincs · July 16, 2006

im ready for wednesday then

jamesl · July 17, 2006

fraincs wrote:

ive read a lot about fireworks photography, i got an idea and im wondering if this could work. I was planning to find my spot, set my camera on a tripod. take a picture of the scene an hour before the fireworks then not move the tirpod and take another exposure with the fireworks on.

then merge both pictures. in order to get details in the buildings as well as nice looking fireworks. do-able???

I've done this both ways, and I prefer doing everything in one shot. It's a bit easier (as mentioned), and tends to look more realistic. However, that being said, you can get some good results by taking the images earlier and stacking with the fireworks. I do this a lot with lightning, and it can work well with fireworks too. Here's a shot I did on the 4th:

The pano I shot about 30 minutes before the show. I then locked the camera to where I knew the fireworks would be, and shot away. Came out pretty good, but looks a bit unnatural.

Good luck!

James

http://www.langfordphotography.com

fireworks

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