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How To Photograph Fireworks

HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH FIREWORKS

Fireworks are photographed by opening the camera’s shutter over a period of several seconds to let the fireworks’ streaming light to draw lines on the photograph.

Here’s how to do it:

DSLR Cameras

1.) Turn off your flash.

2.) Set the lens to manual focus and set it to the ∞ (infinity) mark. With most autofocus cameras, use autofocus to focus on something very far away, and then reset it to Manual focus to lock the focus at infinity for the rest of the night.

3.) Put the camera on tripod. Use a cable release or remote control so you won’t move the camera.

If you don’t use a tripod, the smooth streaks will become squiggles. If you want weird special effects, be my guest and wiggle the camera around to see what happens.

4.) If your camera has it, shoot on M or Manual exposure mode.

5.) Set the camera on “B” or “Bulb.” When you press the shutter, the camera opens to light, and stays open until you remove your finger.

Some cameras have a “T” (time) setting, which instead stays open by itself and closes when you press the shutter a second time. This isn’t as convenient.

If you have neither of these, set a long manual exposure of many seconds, and start the exposure the usual way. Use your hand in front of the lens to stop it. If you have no remote control or cable release, set a long exposure and use your hand or a piece of black card to start and stop the exposure.

If you have none of these settings, so long as you turn off your flash, you will be as good to go as possible.

6.) Shoot at the lowest ISO for the best results. Turn off ISO AUTO because it will try to set a high ISO in the dark. If you have no idea what ISO is, forget about it.

7.) Try an aperture of f/5.6 at ISO 50 and ISO 100, and f/8 at ISO 200 for starters. If you don’t know what an aperture is, or your camera doesn’t have this adjustment, don’t worry.

8.) Open the shutter before the first burst. Hold it open several seconds, until one burst completes, or hold it open longer for several bursts.

As more bursts happen, they “draw” on you film or digital, and add together to look like they all happened at once. If you only open the shutter for one burst, you get one. If you hold it open for several consecutive bursts, you’ll get a photo loaded with all of them.

9.) How’s it look? Too dark? Open up the aperture (set more towards f/4). Too washed-out? Stop down (towards f/11). Try again until you get an exposure you like, at whatever aperture you need.

10.) The brightness of the burst depends only on ISO and the aperture (f/stop). They don’t vary with the amount of time the shutter is open.

11.) The brightness of the sky, but not the bursts, also varies with the length of the exposure.

12.) For a bluer sky, I prefer the Tungsten white balance setting. For more orange, try the cloudy or shade settings (see white balance for more).

Compact Cameras

Pocket digital cameras rarely have a Bulb setting. For these, use the long time exposure or night mode or even firework mode. Most compact cameras can make exposures as long as 15 seconds, and you don’t need a cable release, you will need to set the camera on a tripod or a wall and use the 2 second self timer.

No Manual Mode?

If you have no manual exposure mode, use the Aperture-Priority (A or Av) mode instead. Choose the aperture as above, press the shutter before the first burst, and use your hand to cover the lens if the camera stays open longer than you want it to.

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Landscape Photography – How I do it.

Now one of the most asked questions I get is how do I photograph landscapes and on the face of it a fairly simple question, but a lot of folk love landscape photography but get only seem to get mediocre results, so I have put together my tips for better landscapes.

1. Always start with the lens and the biggest mistake made here is to only rely on a wide angle lens. I will take a wide angle usually a 24 or 28mm but also in my bag will be a 35mm, a 50mm and either an 85mm or a 135mm, this gives me the ultimate flexibility. I do NOT like zoom lenses for landscapes for me the lens has to a prime lens and a good one too, and remember to spend more on your glass than on your camera!
2. NEVER shoot at the smallest aperture – this means if your lens goes down to f32 or even f64 use either f11 or f16 – its all to do with diffraction and this will soften your image especially when shooting with lots of sky. Depth of field in most cases
will not be an issue but if you shoot with a very small aperture the image will look soft!
3. Always use a tripod – a steady camera is a still camera. It doesn’t matter the length of the shutter speed always use a tripod, wether its a 10 sec exposure or a even 500th of a second. This also allows you to see the scene hands free and it also gives you discipline to compose properly and to stand back and see the picture.
4. Get walking – the best landscape photographers are walkers because they don’t want the shots that every else takes and they are constantly looking for new and interesting scenes.
5. Dont just snap away – wait for the light or weather to change and remember a different view point might be better – take time to see what a difference light and conditions can make to the scene.
6. Look for a focal point all shots need some sort of focal point to them and landscapes are no different – in fact landscape photographs without them end up looking rather empty and will leave your viewers eye just wondering through the image. Focal points can take many forms in landscapes and could range from a building or structure, a striking tree, a boulder or rock formation.
7. Use the rule of thirds – this will divide your picture into thirds and stop you placing the horizon right down the middle of the picture.
8. Think foregrounds – one element that can set apart your landscape shots is to think carefully about the foreground of your shots and by placing points of interest in them. When you do this you give those viewing the shot a way into the image as well as creating a sense of depth in your shot.
9. Use the sky – the sky is part of the landscape too and in a lot of cases is probably more interesting than the terra firma.
10. Use lines to lead the eye into the shot, it could a road or a dry stone wall or just ploughed furrows in a field but they all add to the journey the viewers eyes take through your picture.
11. Understand and use the GOLDEN HOURS – its one hour before and after sunset and sunrise, this light is magical and will change the way you shoot landscape photographs.
12. Lay off the HDR – we do NOT want our landscapes to look post apocalyptical – be subtle and have gentle touch.

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Mediocrity in photography

With increase in use of smartphones as cameras and companies using non-professionals for images, the quality of photography is taking a disastrous down turn,and the major problem is that the general public are accepting this without complaining!
One of the biggest causalities is catalogue photography, once the bread winner for a studio now pretty much done in house by a twelve year old with a smartphone – the image quality is atrocious, this is one area where getting it right I thought
would be paramount as its all about desirability and presentation was the key to give the product its best chance at selling.

Recently I strolled (actually i jogged) through a major high street clothing retailer which used photography to show the new range on large billboards suspended from the ceiling in store – to say the image quality was bad would be a compliment, the models looked bored the lighting was flat and some the images weren’t even sharp a basic requirement of the job! it certainly did not inspire me to purchase or even stop in the store. I know we are in a recession but if you want to sell your product and present it in an inspiring and desirable way get better photography!

In the old days when we used to shoot on film and we sent our pictures away for processing the lab would often attached stickers to our rubbish prints telling us that we either had light leaking into our camera or some other fault. Now we download an app which replicates camera faults and turns our in-focus great photography in to blurry,faded,cross processed rubbish… this is why the general public do not see the mediocrity that is being peddled they are already adulterating perfectly good imagery with gimmicky filters designed to “look the 70’s” – WHY? the 70’s were rubbish! digital compact cameras deliver better imagery today than a expensive film SLR did in the 70’s.

Its time we pulled our socks up and stopped accepting mediocrity, bring back those amazing models in amazing landscapes or those catalogues that were great just for their photography not the products!

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Why is the lens the most important part of the camera?

The lens IS the most important part of the camera and dont let anyone tell you otherwise. I have heard “technologists” spout that in the digital age the pixels and the processor do all the work.. this is nonsense! As with all good work it starts with good foundations and in photography you have to start with good image quality, after all the lens is the first point of contact for the light and the quality of that lens dictates the quality of that image from that point onwards. Ask any worthy professional photographer and he/she will tell you that they spend more on their lenses than they do on their cameras.

Being a spectacle wearer I am acutely of this, I have to ensure that my “lenses” are clean and good quality otherwise my view of the world is diminished…..after all its why bathroom window glass is frosted to stop folk seeing you on the john!

So lenses are the most important and will continue to be, make sure they are glass and have a fairly wide aperture as this ensures that the manufacturer has to correct to the very edge of the lens and they care more for the quality of the glass. Dont get hung up on “tied” lenses – that is the same manufacturer as your camera, there are some great lenses from the likes of Sigma, Tamron and Tokina and it is a good idea to have a couple of prime lenses in your bag too (not zoom lenses) as they are better quality in general than zoom lenses and will improve your technique.

My favourite lens of all time is the Leica 35mm f2 Summicron…………whats yours?

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Is the death of the DSLR near?

As Compact System Cameras become more popular and pretty much every manufacturer has one now, the question has been raised “is this the death of the DSLR?”. Well the brands who only manufacture these would have us believe it, but there is still life in the big dog yet! For the paparazzi, sports and wildlife photographer nothing is going to prise the DSLR from their grip, not only because of the investment in their gear but CSC’s dont cut it when it comes to the viewfinder (TTL) and the super fast long lenses.  A TTL view through a DSLR gives a fully live look at whats going in real time and is bright, sharp and easy to see, these are mandatory requirements for the sports and wildlife photographer and the SLR form was designed to be ultimately ergonomic and easy to hold steady. I do love the retro looks on a lot of the CSC’s and they are certainly lighter and more compact plus very fast, but I do feel more happy using a DSLR and there is another problem to overcome…client confidence! A lot of clients may not feel quite so happy if you turned up at a shoot with just a CSC and a couple of lenses, well certainly not the first time anyway and it will take time for them to overcome their prejudice. The death of the DSLR i dont think so – there is place for everything and everything has its place.