4th of July

[Adaptive]

Here is one of our shots from the 4th.

critique please

thanks

[savona]

Thats a great shot, perfect timing. The only problem I see is you lost a little bit of detail on the bright side of the building... I am probably asking to much!

All in all wonderful shot.

[studio206]

very nice photograph. i like the depth you have it with how you framed the shot. very nice :-)

[Adaptive]

Thats a great shot, perfect timing. The only problem I see is you lost a little bit of detail on the bright side of the building... I am probably asking to much!

All in all wonderful shot.


Yea I had to have manual focus set to infinity so I guess the buliding was little too close, but my aperture was at like f22 or higher if I recall so the building should have been in focus. I donno, I guess all the lighting threw it off a bit. :(

[Adaptive]

oh yeah and that building isn't just any building, it's the state capitol building of the Delaware.

[timtam]

wow Adapt... I was having a look-see at the older threads and can't believe I missed this one.. how good is that shot hey...

Can you tell me how you capture fireworks like that? I'm presuming it has to do with the shutterspeed and such?

[TheBaron]

A really nicely captured firework shot. Love the lighting and colours, and the set up!

[Adaptive]

Oh wow, I forgot all about this thread. :)

Here is a gallery of some more firework pics

http://www.sukistyle.com/shoot/July4/



Stuff you will need..

1 - Lens
(If you are close to the fireworks like I was you will need a nice wide angle lens.)

2 - Good Strong Tripod

3 - Cable Release


Settings I used

1 - Manual Mode - You will need complete control of your settings so no priority modes will work

2 - Manual Focus - Set focus to Inifnity - Autofocus will slow you down tremendously and the bright light from the fireworks might throw off your AF. It's best to set it to infinity because the fireworks are soo far away anyways. If you're shooting with something in the foreground (like the building) that's another story though, for that case I should have took a few minutes to find a happy medium where I could get the building in focus as well as the fireworks. But unfortunately I cannot control the fireworks and I didn't want to miss any shots. :(

3 - Shutter Speed - You're going to need a really slow shutter speed. You can use BULB if you'd like, or you can do what I did, and set the shutter speed to the # right before bulb. It's a pretty long exposure, if you think it's not working just preview the shot. ** Long shutter speeds on the grand finalie is not a good idea because you will get nothing but alot of brightness in your pic!!! lol oops

4 - White balance - Auto white balance = not good idea, I used the cloud white balance.

5 - Aperture - I'm sure I was using f/11 - f/22, yes that's pretty slow and would make your shot pretty dark, but that's ok because we're using a long exposure to take pics of bright fireworks!!! If you were using f/2.8 for example your shot would be VERY VERY bright because of the light that the fireworks put out. Not to mention the fireworks would be pretty blurry.. At f/22 EVERYTHING is in focus :)

6 - MLU (Mirror Lock Up). Can be found in most canon dslr's custom functions menu. On Canon 30d I believe it is CF 18 or 22? Basically all that does is reduce vibration caused by having the mirror flap open. Not necessary but never hurts.

7 - ISO 50-100 - Don't need to bump up your ISO to some crazy high number because it is night time. For these shots the lighting from the fireworks is plenty, plus a long exposure is needed so having a high ISO will only make noise and pictures that will be too bright.








Yeah that's alot of info and I think it pretty much covers everything. If you follow my procedure to the T you can get the same results as me. :cool:

Good Luck!

[timtam]

oh wow... cheers for that! You've given some great advice there... many thanks Adapt!

[lextc69]

5 - Aperture - I'm sure I was using f/11 - f/22, yes that's pretty slow and would make your shot pretty dark, but that's ok because we're using a long exposure to take pics of bright fireworks!!! If you were using f/2.8 for example your shot would be VERY VERY bright because of the light that the fireworks put out. Not to mention the fireworks would be pretty blurry.. At f/22 EVERYTHING is in focus :)


F8-F11 should be plenty of DOF, particularly for a wide angle lens near inf. Go higher and diffraction will kill any sharp edges (your building is probably suffering from this as well as just being blown out.)

F22 is not a good idea.

edit: also if there are any lights visible try an even smaller aperture to reduce coronas.

[JohnQ]

Some good info here guys! Excellent shot by the way!