bitslammer
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Looking for some advice on how to handle the next fireworks shoot I do.
First some background. I've done professional fireworks shows now (as a fun side hobby job) for 14 years. What I wanted to capture here was not so much the "in the sky" fireworks, but the part people don't get to see on the ground. I've done the "in the sky" part before and am happy with what I can get there.
Note that since I'm licensed I can walk right up to the racks although that would not be a good idea. I decided for this show not to do any shooting (fireworks that is). I was going to stick with the camera and help with some of the timing coordination since I could see the whole team.
Here was my game plan going into this.
[8]Lens - 55-200mm f4-5.6 Nikon with Vibration Reduction. Figured it was a good balance for focal length and I did NOT want to be switching lenses in this environment. It's basically a storm of raining sparks, fire, burning paper, bits of cardboard and with heavy smoke and not a great place for fooling with lenses.
- Flash - Nikon SB-600 - Wasn't sure if I was going to want/need it but figured I'd have it there just in case. I now know that the SB600 is not really well suited for use when wearing a hard hat.
 I think I'd leave it out next time. I really like the shots in the dark much better. When things are going there is some decent ambient light but you just never know when it's coming or going.
- Tripod - Didn't use one but I think next time I will, or maybe a monopod? I think this would have let me go with a slightly higher shutter speed but I don't know if that would be a good thing. The steadiness would however.
- Location - I stayed on the same side as the shooters and now I realize this was not the best side. I missed all those possible shots of faces begin illuminated but the shells going off. Next time I'm staying the the opposite side if possible.
So while I'm basically happy with some of what I got here's what I saw as the issues shooting this and some of my problems. Hoping there are some simple things I can do next time.
Main issue is trying to shoot where you go from pitch black to supernova in a fraction of a second. D90 had some issues with auto-focus and I could not see well enough with in the dark and smoke with safety glassed on to focus manually. I suppose I could stay stationary but this is still to much of an action activity to stay on a fixed spot.
Lighting. I didn't like the shots with flash. They really didn't capture the feeling of working there in only the light of the shells launching and going off overhead.
Shutter speed. Here's the real puzzle for me. Too fast and you don't have the light you need, too slow and you just get a bunch of blurred fire. I used 1/800 for most non flash shots and it seemed to give me what I wanted. Seems like a catch-22 scenario but I'm guessing there's a few things I could do. Also wanted to keep ISO low to comabt noise. That's something I need to work on.
So here are a few example shots with basic EXIF data. Tell me what looks good and what could be improved. I'm linking these resized from my Google Picasa account. I know these are quite a few shots but I wanted to make sure I had a variety to explain what I was hoping for.
Lighting the first rack of 5 inch shells. Wanted the flash to capture the racks for at least a few shots. OK, but to me doesn't embody being there.
Jul 4, 2009
1024×680 pixels – 93KB
Filename: _DSC0122.JPG
Camera: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D90
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: Yes
Latitude: 39.717233° N
Longitude: 84.015621° W
A second later. Wanted to focus on the shooter but have teh rack in the back ground.
Jul 4, 2009
1024×680 pixels – 97KB
Filename: _DSC0126.JPG
Camera: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D90
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: Yes
Latitude: 39.717233° N
Longitude: 84.015621° W
Here's one I like. Wish I could ave caught more of the shooter in it somehow. It's a plsit second after a "comet" shell launched. Those are the shells with the trailing "tail" of sparks as they go up. Until I saw this shot I never really noticed how early those effects start.
ul 4, 2009
1024×837 pixels – 78KB
Filename: _DSC0150.JPG
Camera: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D90
ISO: n/a
Exposure: 1/800 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No
Latitude: 39.717233° N
Longitude: 84.015621° W
Me getting way to close to 6-inch shells going up. Maybe not that exciting of a shot but for me seems to convey what it's like being there.
Jul 4, 2009
1024×680 pixels – 97KB
Filename: _DSC0166.JPG
Camera: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D90
ISO: n/a
Exposure: 1/800 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No
Latitude: 39.717233° N
Longitude: 84.015621° W
A Big Boom. 2 racks of 6-inch shells going off together. This could be felt. I thought my camera and eyebrows might melt. Is there any way to lessen the harshness of the ball of fire? It is really that intense, but looks overexposed at the some time.
Jul 4, 2009
1024×744 pixels – 129KB
Filename: _DSC0221.JPG
Camera: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D90
ISO: n/a
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 4.2
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: Yes
Latitude: 39.717233° N
Longitude: 84.015621° W
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