Hi Amita... I've recently been working on photographing large displays, and discovered the following: Go for slow film (ISO 100 or so), a tripod and a shutter release. Set your camera to its Bulb setting. Open the shutter when you see the shell go up and close the shutter after a couple of bursts, between 3 to 10 seconds. Experiment, experiment, experiment.
Why slow film? Longer shutter times = less noticeable smoke and more "streaks" or fire trails left by the fireworks. You also get the benefits of fine grain for doing those 16x20 enlargements of the awesome pix you'll take. ;) A more interesting picture is done if you can get city lights or something else in the frame, too. Meter and expose for those, then open the shutter again for the fireworks. If your camera can't to multiple exposures on one frame, then leave the shutter open and use a black cloth to cover the lens to "paint" the overall. It's really, really easy to overdo a frame by leaving the shutter open too long. The light from the fireworks adds up quickly. Lens selection depends on how close you are to the display and what else you want to include. Scout out your location early (the day before is good) and arrive well before the fireworks start, especially if you're close. There'll be lots of competition for the good locations! Bring a small flashlight, too, in case you drop something or spill your gear bag. When printing, ask the printer to expose the frames for black skies. I'd avoid mini-lab printing as you'll probably get washed out fireworks and brown skies. Yuk. Do a quick search on photo.net for this topic. There's dozens of threads that cover this. All this and I don't have any examples of my own to show you. I find it a big challenge to get a really good picture of fireworks. t On 7/2/02 7:11 AM, Amita Guha wrote: > Would 400 speed film be ok to shoot fireworks or should I get 800 > instead? > > Thanks, > Amita > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
