Photographing Fireworks With Your Digital Camera
Photographing firework displays is a lot of fun and can
reward you with some stunningly colorful images.
Although it sounds difficult it's actually quite easy. Here
are some tips...
Because of the long exposure times you'll definitely
need a good, sturdy tripod to set your camera on. I'd
also recommend using a cable release to set off the
shutter as pressing the release button with your finger
will almost certainly introduce camera shake and your
images will turn out blurry.
When setting up the camera, try to envision where the
fireworks will be launched from and how high you
anticipate them going into the air and zoom in and
adjust the camera's angle of view accordingly. What
you're trying to do is capture the entire flight of the
firework so it fills the frame. If you don't zoom in
enough you'll end up with little points of
indistinguishable colored light on a jet black background
and nothing else.
Manually set the ISO rating to 80-100 and set the lens
f-stop setting to f8-11. On my Olympus E20N, f9 seems
to work well. The exposure time you use will be
dependent on what it is you want to capture, either a
single burst of multiple bursts of the display. I like to
capture multiple bursts so I set the shutter
speed for 10-20 seconds. After capturing your shot,
preview it in the LCD and make minor adjustments as
needed. And there you go. That's all there is to it! So,
enjoy your fireworks display and be safe and
responsible.
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Linda, my wife, suggested for this edition of the
newsletter I share with you a few photographs of
places around the town of Hastings that my Dad loved
so well. I thought that was a great idea. These shots
are especially meaningful because they were inspired
by Dad while I was in Australia for his funeral. There
were more than a few occasions when I felt compelled
to just jump into the car and drive to certain places on
the peninsula to take pictures without really knowing
why. I can only guess it was Dad wanting to go for one
last drive. So, thanks Dad for your helping hand with
these shots.
For those of you not familiar with the area, Hastings is
located about midway down the Mornington Peninsula
in Victoria, Australia and is about a 2-hour drive
south of Melbourne. The peninsula's one of
Australia's best kept secrets with some absolutely
stunning scenery and lots of things to do. But, don't
tell anyone about it so we can keep it a secret ;-)
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| Photograph: Dad's Spot | | |
 This shot of the Hastings Marina Parade Park was taken
soon after sunrise on a cool, crisp winter's morning.
The bench is the only one on the north end of the park
and a place where many just like to sit and relax while
watching others enjoying the park.I took this shot because for me the single bench with
the trees behind it evoked a sense of solitude from
which my imagination began to conjure up all kinds of
thoughts. Who might have sat here? What did they
think about? Who were they talking to? What walk of
life did they come from? I like shots that provoke
thought. I've looked at this shot dozens of times and
every time I see something different in my minds eye. See Image Details... | | |
| Photograph: Hastings Marina At Dawn | | |
 Linda and I have walked along the Hastings Marina
many times, usually at sunrise or sunset to capture the
golden light of the rising or setting sun. On this
particular morning, however, I felt compelled to get up
early and drive to the Marina before dawn. After
photographing this scene of the boardwalk lights
illuminating the boats against the pastel colors of the
early morning sky I wondered why I'd never done this
before.Even though photography is my profession, I still find
myself sometimes forgetting to take full advantage of
special occasions like this. For me, this particular
morning was a reminder to not take this kind of
opportunity for granted and to make more of an effort
to embrace them. After all, it's these occasions that
usually produce the most unique and rewarding
photographs. See Image Details... | | |
| Photograph: French island View From Marina Parade | | |
 From Dad's favorite spot in the Hastings Marina Parade
you can look out over the Western Port Bay and on to
French Island. It's one of those places where you feel
like just throwing down a blanket and sitting and
watching the beauty of everything around you for
hours.For this particular shot, I liked the way the elements of
the green grass and the wispy clouds in the deep blue
sky all came together to create a very relaxing scene.
The image is so vivid you almost get the sensation of
looking out through a window taking in the view. See Image Details... | | |
| Photograph: Mount Martha Pier At Dusk | | |
 Mount Martha is one of the more picturesque areas on
the peninsula offering a spectacular view across the
Port Phillip Bay. On clear days you can see the City of
Melbourne across the other side of the bay. Although
when I first arrived the clouds obscured the sunset,
after the sun had gone down a sliver opened up in the
clouds illuminating the pier and surrounding area.This shot appealed to me because of the orangey
colored clouds against the cold blue tones of the ocean
and sky creating a nice colorful contrast between the
two. One of the fun elements of this shot that you
can't see in the small image is that there is someone in
the window of building looking out at the sunset
creating a picture within a picture effect. See Image Details... | | |
| Photograph: Port Leo At Sunrise | | |
 Port Leo is one of those magical places at sunrise. The
sounds of the ocean, the smell of the sea air, the feel
of the warm sun hitting your face, and the sight of the
golden sun illuminating the clouds all make for a
spectacular start to the day. I don't know what it is
about sunrise shots like this one but there's just
something angelic and heavenly about them.Taking pictures straight into the sun can sometimes be
challenging because often you can get multiple ghost
images of the sun ruining the image. With a good
lens, however, this isn't so much of a problem if the
shot's planned right. See Image Details... | | |
| Look For Photographic Opportunities | | |
 As I mentioned earlier, I tend to sometimes be
complacent when looking for new opportunities to take
pictures. There are certain situations or conditions I
look for before I'll head out with the cameras. I'm sure
I'm not the only one this happens to. The fact of the
matter is, why wait for certain situations or conditions
to be just the way we like them before grabbing the
camera and venturing out? By doing so we undoubtedly
miss out on some great opportunities to expand our
picture taking abilities and learn new techniques.How often have you grabbed a camera and wandered
around town at night to capture night scenes, or
around an outdoor market to capture the people milling
around, or taken landscape shots on a rainy day? See
my point? So, go out and look for situations and
conditions you'd normally not bother with and try your
hand and something different. | | |
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