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How to photograph fireworks You don't need any fancy gear to start photographing fireworks, a simple point and shoot camera will do, as long as it takes 35 millimeter film and you can turn the flash off, I have used this method on the odd occasion especially when photographing the bonfire (ablaze) itself. The skill lies in holding the camera steady and choosing a good vantage point, the rocket burst's are usually big enough to fill the frame. For a lot of years I used an Olympus OM10 with its 50mm (normal) lens, on a tripod with cable release and 100 iso colour print film. Using an aperture of f8, I may bracket sometimes, I rely on the built in meter to give me the shutter speed but most of the time I just set it on 'B' and let a burst or two go off. At least one shot is made like this, I take a shot of the bonfire itself then cover the lens with my hand, point the camera to the sky and uncover the lens for a burst or two, this superimposes one on top of the other. I now use a camera with a zoom lens so I can take a close up shot of the bonfire, then pull the zoom back for a wide shot of the bursts. The best advice I can offer is to experiment with apertures and times and take plenty of shots, you can not expect to get great photographs of fireworks in only one or two shots. Here are a couple
of links to some how to sites. |
My most memorable bonfire
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During the 1991 bonfire we had a visit from a BBC news crew, Langbaugh was the focus of an important bye-election. They were to film Ashok Kumar at the bonfire, put the film into a taxi, run it to Teesside airport and fly it to London to appear on Newsnight at 10.30. Naturally we rushed home to see the news, this very important story would have dominated the slot but for another story, the death under mysterious circumstances of the news magnate Robert Maxwell. The next day Diane and I went off to Edinburgh for the weekend, where we could point to the news and say we were there last night, the only time we could say "we come from Langbaugh" without people saying, "Where ?". |
IF you are from outside the UK and wondering what all this is about visit the links below.
A much more in depth story with further links on the prime conspirators
All kinds of Guy Fawkes related stuff here
