How to
take firework photos on Deepavali
Unlike fireworks that happens in
other countries for some occasions at particular place where people gather to
see the fireworks and take really beautiful shots, to take photos of deepavali
its really difficult owing to the below facts.
1) Fireworks
don’t happen at a single place rather it happens at every home. So there is not
a single place to focus on. Because of this its
distraction distraction distraction.
2)
Everyone may not be blasting those beautifully exploding crackers. So chances
of getting nice shot comparatively less.
3)
In a place like Bangalore where everyone will not be able to go to his or her
terrace, obstruction to take photo is the main problem. Even from terrace, its
difficult because of other buildings that may block the view. Electric cables,
TV cable and Internet cables etc. may be other obstructions
4)
Some people start early to fire the crackers, and some very late and some in
between, so you need to have patience to extend the stretch from very early to
very late.
5)
May not be able to beautifully frame the picture because of UGLY buildings that
may be part of your frame.
6)
Some times firework may happen very near to your house and some times very far
from your house. And lot more
How to avoid distractions
1)
Choose a place from where you can photograph fireworks
2)
Keep your lens focal length at sufficiently wide angle so that you will get
from the tail to the burst of the cracker.
3)
Try pointing camera one place for sufficient time, by this time some beautiful
cracker may go off behind you or other place, just forget that. Concentrate on
one place at least for 10-15 mins, then turn your tripod to point camera to
another place.
Equipments needed
1)
Any DSLR
2)A
lens that suites to take firework that will fill at least 30% of the frame.
Zoom lenses are good.
3)
Tripod that is sturdy enough to hold DSLR with out shaking, tripod head that’s
enables easy to removal and fixing camera.
4)
Release cable
5)
Have battery full charged and keep a spare battery
6)
Enough space in memory card and keep a spare memory card or memory card of
sufficiently large storage capacity depending on your camera’s MPs.
Take care
1)
Be aware of whats’s going on around you. Some remains of crackers/rockets land
very near you. So please take care of yourself of these dangerous things.
2)
Do not step on remains of crackers, which might be hot.
3)
While moving around the tripod, do not kick the tripod legs – take care of
expensive camera.
4)
Children may play around tripod/come in front of camera to see what's
happening! so be extra careful about your instruments.
Taking firework photos using the DSLR.
1)
Extend the tripod to required length and tighten each leg and place it firmly.
2)
Place and point the camera to a place where fireworks are happening
3)
Hope that all DSLR has Manual mode ‘M’ on the dial. Set your camera to Manual
mode.
4)
Fix the cable release to the camera
5)
You should focus the lens manually, for this in some camera, changing camera’s
‘focusing’ switch to Manual focus is enough but in some you may need to change
both camera and lens to manual focus by changing the switch position.
Note
: -
In case if you need
to change in camera and lens, then to switch camera to manual focus first, then
the lens and to switch back to auto focus, change lens switch first then the
camera focus switch.
6)
Keep your aperture between f/8 to f/16
7)
Keep shutter speed to ‘bulb’ mode.
8)
Look through viewfinder or see the live view panel to frame the shot by zooming
in or out.
9)
After this take couple of shots and see whether you are getting accurate focus.
If not adjust the focus manually in the lens.
10)
To take a shot press the cable release when you see the tail of the firework
and release after the complete explosion is over.
