Fireworks

Friday, November 12, 2004

For this picture, I used a tip from

mangudi_iyer. I set the camera on a tripod, pointed at an area with some activity, set the shutter speed to bulb mode—in which the sensor remains exposed for as long as the button is depressed—set the focus to manual and at infinity, aperture at f/18—f/11 was too blurred—covered the lens with a black card, released the shutter, and waited. The idea is to expose when there’s activity, and expose again to a clear sky so that the surrounding dark details also show up. This is what you do when the camera doesn’t support multiple exposures on a single frame.

The hardest part of shooting like this is the waiting. It’s one thing to see a fantastic display every few minutes and wish you had a picture. It’s another to wait second after excruciating second, wait with a finger holding the button down and another hand the card, the evening’s rain water irritating your heel, ignoring everything not happening within your camera’s field of view, because you can’t miss it when it starts there, because you can’t reorient your camera quickly enough, because you can never tell where and when the next will be. Either you get lucky with activity in your field of view, or you reorient for the next shot and pray you get lucky.

In about half an hour of trying, this was the only decent picture I managed. 42 seconds of waiting. I mistimed for the landscape and it came out dark, so I cropped for effect.

togagirl — Nov 12, 2004 3:23:29 PM — # ↩

great shot! - worth the effort
and thanks for sharing the tips
kalyan — Nov 12, 2004 3:33:10 PM — # ↩

Great one.. havent had any luck today.. rather.. was too busy to sit and experiment
- themadman — Nov 15, 2004 4:23:57 PM — # ↩
  
  Yes, I heard your workplace is getting very hectic these days. :p
  - code_martial — Nov 22, 2004 4:33:28 PM — # ↩
    
    Off-topic
    Shiok was mentioned as one of the three latest restaurants in Bangalore in Nov 2004 issue of Air Deccan's in-flight magazine. It was spelt as Shlok. I don't think there's any Shlok that serves oriental stuff on CMH road, is there?
    - themadman — Nov 22, 2004 5:01:41 PM — # ↩
      
      Re: Off-topic
      Hehe, not that I know of, especially since I've already applied for trademark protection for the name. ;)
      
      Thanks a lot for letting me know. Say, would you by any chance have a copy of the magazine? Would love to have a look at it.
      - code_martial — Nov 22, 2004 5:34:37 PM — # ↩
        
        Re: Off-topic
        The magazine is supposed to be left in the aircraft, AFAIK. From what I recollect, it mentioned that Shiok offers Oriental fare from many of the eastern countries, with an Indian touch to the taste. There was a line of praise, phone number and address. You might want to get the address and number checked for correctness too.
sriramb — Nov 12, 2004 3:43:53 PM — # ↩

Glad the technique worked out. i've found you get the best shots the farther you are from the display. Also try and use a wide angle lens. here's an example:
- minn — Nov 12, 2004 6:30:12 PM — # ↩
  
  Both you and Jace have captured some breathtaking images! Wow.
  
  Mine has a "fireworks" shooting mode and I found out it works pretty decent, too. Multiple exposures, slow shutter speed and focus set at infinity. I was apprehensive about how well it'd actually work, though, but work well it did.
  
  Oh, and Jace, hats off to you for being such a trooper to get the p.e.r.f.e.c.t shot. :-)
  - sriramb — Nov 13, 2004 2:59:15 AM — # ↩
    
    Yup. Jace's shot is a keeper for sure. It's tough to get the timing right on these shots. Can't ask for anything more.
- vinodkumarvc — Nov 12, 2004 7:25:49 PM — # ↩
  
  wow! tht's better than jace's pic!
  but i guess u had the advantage of distance 4 this photo ..
- swatisani — Nov 13, 2004 2:04:41 AM — # ↩
  
  This is a great fireworks picture
- clueless_rebel — Nov 13, 2004 2:57:10 PM — # ↩
  
  hey, is this what you were talking about? the fireworks from the barge?
  - sriramb — Nov 13, 2004 3:14:29 PM — # ↩
    
    yup.
- themadman — Nov 15, 2004 4:24:55 PM — # ↩
  
  Holy... crap!
  
  I bow to you.
contentedbloke — Nov 12, 2004 10:40:48 PM — # ↩

Beautiful!
latelyontime — Nov 13, 2004 2:51:08 AM — # ↩

completly mindblowingly awesome...it looked like one of those pics one sees only in disney movies and wonder how they take it...

sahi hai bidu!
purplehazerads — Nov 13, 2004 3:38:04 AM — # ↩

Awesome.
tsk1979 — Nov 13, 2004 7:05:01 AM — # ↩

Great shot!
But i think D70 has a fireworks mode? Did you look that up. It automaticaly does multiple exposures.
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — Nov 13, 2004 10:05:58 AM — # ↩
  
  Re: Great shot!
  Nope, no fireworks mode. I also never use anything other than the P, S, A and M modes.
brainz — Nov 13, 2004 9:00:49 AM — # ↩

Beautiful brotha!
- code_martial — Nov 22, 2004 4:35:03 PM — # ↩
  
  This userpic of yours makes me feel momentarily like I'm looking into the mirror :p
  
  Sorry for trashing your post with off-topic comments, jace!
birdonthewire — Nov 13, 2004 10:24:48 AM — # ↩

Beautiful. It doesn't look all this pretty in real life!
irq2 — Nov 13, 2004 10:26:46 AM — # ↩

The bulb mode is my favorite on my Mamiya-Sekor :-D Haven't played around with it on a digital camera, though.
- sriramb — Nov 13, 2004 12:14:31 PM — # ↩
  
  do you shoot medium format? or do you have a 35mm rangefinder? lucky you!
  - irq2 — Nov 14, 2004 4:24:22 AM — # ↩
    
    My uncle is a photography freak, and he doesn't do digital. He does both and a whole lot more (you should see his camera collection!) including developing and printing, and I'm still getting the hang of it. I need to dedicate more time, though :-(
teemus — Nov 13, 2004 12:41:31 PM — # ↩
arunshanbhag — Nov 13, 2004 1:33:11 PM — # ↩

Great shot!
Hey doesn't the D70 have a manual cable release. You could then trigger and lock the cable to keep the shutter open.
- Kiran Jonnalagadda — Nov 13, 2004 1:36:46 PM — # ↩
  
  The D70 doesn't have cable release, but does have IR. But I don't have a remote.
clueless_rebel — Nov 13, 2004 3:29:49 PM — # ↩

really nice picture!!
urmila — Nov 16, 2004 12:46:45 AM — # ↩

:-)
beautiful!!!