Attempt To Capture Firewooks On The 4th?

[miles_feigenbaum___dallas_]

Howdy Friends!

 

With the 4th of July fireworks approaching soon; is it rediculous to

try to capture these on LF????? Have any of you attempted this

before; if so, any tips, other than use the 35mm cam...

 

Are there any examples taken with LF out here in webland to view?

 

thanks guys!

[daniel flather]

I plan to do the same, but on July 1st (Canada Day). All I can think of is to have your film

holders ready to go!! Cable release and lens set on T. Exposure will be the same as

35mm so LF will be easy. Better than my 35 because of the "T" setting. Using a Card

over the lens will work too. But this year I will have 16*20 prints with no grain. :)

[terry_dvorak]

Hi Miles,

 

I think if you do a search for the word "fireworks" in photo.net

you'll find some appropriate threads. One thing I've noticed about

such threads is that there is no one "right" way to shoot fireworks;

some people leave the shutter open a long time, some do the black-card

blackout between explosions, some shoot only sky while others include

buildings, etc.

 

One good folder of pictures is by photo.netter Mark Crame:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=159621

 

Mark said in a post last fall that for ISO 100 he uses equivalent of 4

secs. at f11, 8 secs. at f16, and 16 secs. at f22; that may be a

starting point, although these times seem a little on the short side

to me. Part of the issue is whether you want buildings on the ground

to be exposed correctly, which can be the case in some urban fireworks

displays and completely irrelevant in others.

 

It's never a "surefire" thing, and there's always a lot of trial and

error involved, but the uniqueness of each explosion (and not knowing

what you'll get) is part of the magic.

[mateo_leyba]

I have not shot any LF fireworks before, but I fully intend to shoot

some 810 this year. The key I think will be to know where the

firewoks will be in the sky in relation to other items in the scene. I

have shot a lot of 35mm fwrks around my town so I have a good

idea of how the scene will unfold in a few different locations. So I

feel confident that I can compose, pre focus and wait for the

action to unfold, but I'm also prepared for it to be a complete

disaster. If it was easy everyone would do it.

 

I may not get a chance to try since Colorado is burning down and

a few professional displays have already been called off.

[noshir_patel]

The great part of using LF is you can use a nice wide angle lens and crop. Who knows where those fireworks are going to explode?

[miles_feigenbaum___dallas_]

Subject: Response to ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE FIREWORKS ON THE 4TH?

 

Howdy Guys,

In an attempt to get this new Photo.Net LF group a little shot in the butt; what do you guys and gals think of a little competition with the fireworks theme? Scanning these after processing the 'chromes' , hopefully no stinkin' photoshop, posting them and having a small group of our peers judge these... I'd be willing to send in a $5 or 10 USD non-refundable 'entry' fee, to be used to lets say buy a gift certificate from someplace like B&H or Badger for the photo extraordinaire. Maybe one of the long time contributors or one of the nice photogs that hosts the west coast 'free' workshops would like to help??? Any nibbles???????

 

miles