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Archive 2015 · Fireworks

  
 
leethecam
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Fireworks


I'm shooting an event with a professional firework display shortly, and it's not something I've shot before...

Looking for any decent pointers that will help me along. The display is only short - about 4 mins, and of course I'll need to get shots of people looking onwards in awe, which leaves me about 2 mins for fireworks, (gulp).

Shooting on 5D3's, 24-70 / 70-200 lenses, RAW of course.

Thoughts to exposure settings / shutter speeds...? Any little tricks that may help?

(Assume a solid knowledge of photography, just a lack of experience with fireworks).



Oct 02, 2015 at 09:05 AM
joelconner
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Fireworks


Your settings really will vary based on how close they are to the people, etc. If you go ambient, the fireworks themselves will be much hotter then the light that falls on the subject. You can mix in OFC for some really cool stuff, but even ambient shots can look nice. Avoid too slow of shutter speeds unless you are doing a longer exposure.

Honestly, 4 minutes is longer than you probably think. Shoot like crazy, look at how it is coming out, adjust, and shoot like crazy again.



Oct 02, 2015 at 09:17 AM
joelconner
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Fireworks


And, forget the 70-200...won't want it. If you have anything wider, that would not hurt.


Oct 02, 2015 at 09:17 AM
leethecam
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Fireworks


Ok, I may swop out the 70-200 for my 16-35. Good advice.

Reading up, it seems ISO100, F11, 4 secs ish may be a good starting point. I've been reminded that a tripod and shutter release need to be part of my kit, and a torch... (Funny how the little things can escape you.

I'm guessing there won't be much foreground action or buildings, but I'm hoping to capture people from behind the group as they look on - so flash and as wide a lens as I can muster will be useful.

I guess shoot wide and crop will be order of the day. I just need 5-6 shots that are good and the rest will be faces. Noise reduction and LR tweaks will be my friends, (although with ISO100 I guess the fireworks are pretty bright anyway).

Heck, if it all goes belly up, I'll buy in a few firework shots and comp them in heh heh...



Oct 02, 2015 at 09:42 AM
ricardovaste
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Fireworks


For the actual fireworks I'd be surprised if you got what you'd want with iso100, 4sec @ f11. I'm usually at f4-f-5.6 at the smallest, ISO200ish, often around 4sec. You'd get the fireworks, but at f11 you'd likely kill the atmosphere - but that does depend upon your environemnt. I'm often in the middle of nowhere.


Oct 02, 2015 at 09:50 AM
leethecam
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Fireworks


Yes they're be some frantic LCD viewing in the first bit... I guess it depends on the scale of the fireworks.

Private venue so I think I'll be pointing straight up at the night sky. Take your point with ISO's and I'll be ready to pop it up if I think I need to. As long as I'm within a stop or so I'll happily pull it up in post.



Oct 02, 2015 at 10:23 AM
ashton lamont
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Fireworks


I've been reminded that a tripod and shutter release need to be part of my kit


Wrong wrong wrong!

You need to be far more flexible than that. Some bursts will be near ground level, others almost overhead. No way can you react fast enough to allow for that with a tripod and release. Then you need to quickly recompose for the guest shots etc.

Remember the bursts are far away and so you can use f4 and larger without worrying about depth of field. I wouldn't go faster than 1/100th'ish with the shutter otherwise the bursts may appear unnaturally static. Full manual obviously.

I would also manually focus on a distant point and leave it at that rather than trying to autofocus on the fireworks otherwise you risk the focus hunting as it is pitch black between bursts.

A torch is essential to see all your controls quickly. a small video light is even better, maybe sitting on a lightstand alongside you powered up just enough to enable you to work.

Use two bodies - don't rely on one.

Just looked at a some shots I did at a birthday event last month. I had a 24-105mm f4L on one body and a 50mm f1.2L on the other. With the 50mm I had the ISO at 1250 and the aperture at f1.8 With the 24-70 I had the iso anything between 1600 and 4000 with the largest aperture of f4. Its easiest to ride the ISO as you shoot.

In post you can crunch the blacks (to eliminate anything in the surrounding night sky) and bump up the saturation to improve the effects. And crop obviously.

Talk to the technicians before the start so you can be absolutely sure you know whats happening and when, and to ensure that you are allowed to be where you plan to shoot from.

Pete



Edited on Oct 02, 2015 at 03:26 PM · View previous versions



Oct 02, 2015 at 03:22 PM
TTLKurtis
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Fireworks


I've done this on a tripod with a wide lens and bulb exposure, covering the lens with something dark in the time between fireworks

I've only done this as a team of two. The other shooter was shooting with primes trying to get a sweet moment of bride and groom embracing and watching fireworks, shots closer up of guests etc

I moved my tripod a couple times but there was one main shot I wanted with their departure corvette or whatever in the foreground with guests watching and bride and groom holding each other as fireworks explode above



Oct 02, 2015 at 03:22 PM
amonline
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Fireworks


Some of the relative settings mentioned will be in the ballpark. The actual shutter speed will be subjective to the style you're going for. Generally, most will shoot anywhere from 2-6 seconds. You WILL want a tripod, but you WILL want to turn off any IS feature.

With the longer exposure, just concentrate on the off-cam flash and exposure for your subject. (dial up manual flash until the subject is flashed and exposed properly... this will work best from a simple stand that you can leave in place, and that can be cloned out later) Let the slow exposure handle the rest of the fireworks. You'll have to work fast to get your exposure nailed, because you'll spend the rest of the show attempting to capture just the right bursts and comps.

16-35 will work well. Once the exposure is set, you can move around and get different comps without changing anything else. Try to plan any pose changes in advance. Use a selected focus point on the couple for each comp. If you have an assistant with a flashlight (if it's that dark), they can light the subject just for focusing.

Have fun!



Oct 02, 2015 at 03:54 PM
jmraso
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Fireworks


The lowest possible ISO to get the speed you need and not blow out the highlights, manual focus to infinite, a wide focal and a tripod !


Oct 02, 2015 at 04:05 PM
Mark_L
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Fireworks


Vastly different depending on what sort of shots you want which is why you are getting such conflicting advice. 'Bust' shots vs shutter drag 'falling' shots.

Do not ignore wide shots; shots of just fireworks are boring, shots of the whole scene with fireworks with peoples' silhouettes or rim lit by them are far more interesting.

Btw if you want to see a great similar shot (shuttle launch) with a could of speedlights have a look here: http://strobist.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/night-shuttle.html



Oct 02, 2015 at 04:38 PM
leethecam
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Fireworks


Yes it's going to be interesting. Pity it's only next week and I don't have chance to try a dry run with a different event.

My thinking of 2-4 sec exposures is to get 1 or 2 complete fireworks exploding and have a decent trail to them. My hope is to get shots with some of the groups in the frame to give context. So for this I'll be relying on my on-camera flash and the focus assist for a bit extra interest.

I think it will be the 16-35 for everything. The 1st 30 seconds will be my testing ground / learning curve. Then I have 3 mins to get fireworks, group/fireworks, faces... sheesh...!

In the meantime I have a video chap trying to get the same whilst we try not to get in each others' way.

So, no pressure then. (Did I mention that this is for one of my most important clients, so yes - definitely no pressure...)

Mind you, I'm used to shooting in adverse lighting conditions so maybe it won't be soo bad.

I wish I could post the results, but alas I agree to all sorts of non-disclosure agreements because of who I am photographing for. Grrr... Thanks all for your continued help and advice.



Oct 02, 2015 at 04:55 PM
sherijohnson
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Fireworks


I think you might like it better with about 10-15 sec exposure if you want to capture a good firework, you start the exposure when it launches from the ground. about f11, low iso

bulb exposure with a cable release is the easiest way to get these shots, tripod is recommended. you just need to get your best spot before it all starts and relocate quickly if you don't have what you need on your first shot

pre-focus on "infiniti" should be okay for this purpose



Oct 02, 2015 at 05:10 PM
sherijohnson
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Fireworks


oh and I don't know all this getting faces part.... good luck on that


Oct 02, 2015 at 05:11 PM
leethecam
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Fireworks


Ha, getting the faces will be the easy bit. I need to get a healthy number of shots of people looking in wonder at the fireworks.

I figure if I can get 3-4 decent firework shots, a couple of contextual group/fireworks and a good set (7-8) of faces then I may be set.

This is part of a frantic 3 hr party which typically delivers 300 images, of which perhaps 160 will find their way into an album. It requires a high hit rate under testing conditions. Hey - but that's what they pay us the big money for... ahem...



Oct 02, 2015 at 05:16 PM
Mark_L
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Fireworks


sherijohnson wrote:
oh and I don't know all this getting faces part.... good luck on that


Off-camera flash would make it better easy surely.



Oct 02, 2015 at 05:36 PM
TTLKurtis
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Fireworks


Personally I don't think I'd really want to light people and make it look totally unnatural. Maybe from far away a little profile light or something for an accent, but lighting people's faces, no thanks.


Oct 02, 2015 at 05:47 PM
Mark_L
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Fireworks


Light on them from the fireworks or any exterior lighting will be totally unnatural anyway at night as long as you gel the flash it is dead easy for it to fit right in (see most movies). In daylight it is much trickier.


Oct 02, 2015 at 06:00 PM
leethecam
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Fireworks


I'm guessing fireworks balance out at about 3200K...?

EDIT... Actually it seems that closer to 5600K may be better. I may split the difference and go 4300K with a 1/2 CTO on the flash for foreground action.



Oct 02, 2015 at 06:18 PM
TTLKurtis
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Fireworks


Mark_L wrote:
Light on them from the fireworks or any exterior lighting will be totally unnatural anyway at night as long as you gel the flash it is dead easy for it to fit right in (see most movies). In daylight it is much trickier.


Yeah that's sort of my point, I want whatever unnatural glow there is to be lighting them, or honestly if they're in silhouette that's fine too. Talk about a quick way to kill the mood of an image, by adding light to it. But hey, there is no right or wrong answer, just a thousand ways to capture the same moment, and that's where our styles come into play eh?



Oct 02, 2015 at 08:01 PM
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