i was blessed enough to spend the long holiday weekend on the eastern shore with some pretty uh-may-zing folks. there was sun, water, boating, beer, food and fun... and of course fireworks!! fireworks offer a perfect scenario in which you can play around with your camera and get some interesting pictures. as i was experimenting, this is what i found [these pictures are by NO MEANS professional, but i thought i'd share what i captured]:
1. keep your ISO at 100. fireworks emit super bright light, so the colors will just be over-exposed and look completely white if you jack up your ISO.
2. keep your aperture small. my f-stops in these range from 16-22. if you use a wider aperture too much light is let in and the picture will be over-exposed, with little to no definition in light patterns or color.
3. long shutter speeds are key. in an ideal situation, you would set the camera to BULB (this just means that the shutter stays open as long as you tell it to) and use a shutter-release cable to trigger your shutter. these little jewels decrease the likelihood of 'camera shake' which happens when pressing the on-camera shutter release and increase your chances of capturing crisp, sharp images by not touching the camera itself. none of these pictures were taken with one of these cables, hence their less-than-ideal sharpness.
4. if possible, set your focus to 'infinity' - i had a little trouble with this one, and it's why you don't see any of the 'tails' of the fireworks that you see when they are first set off. i couldn't get my focus straight so i had to wait until the firework started to go off before my camera would focus on anything... kindof a fail, but a learning experience nonetheless
5. i had my white balance set to 'daylight' -3... aka 'night' - i don't really know if that was the right thing to do, but it's what all of these photos were shot with!!
6. i can't believe i almost forgot this: a tripod is absolutely necessary. if not an actual tripod, a makeshift one (you can put a bean bag on top of a fence pole, as long as your camera has a stable, stationary place to rest while you're shooting)
7. HAVE FUN AND EXPERIMENT. that's what makes photography enjoyable!
my last addition to the fireworks post is this:
and now on to the 'i need to be held accountable' part of this post... things i need to do:
- order sample canvases to figure out which company i'm going to use
- order sample portrait books and wedding albums
- order prints for my fair displays
- get framing ready for said prints
- figure out what i'm going to display things on
- BRANDING <-- this terrifies me (i'm thinking: caitlin elizabeth photography - sweet. simple. southern. - thoughts?)
- put together OFFICIAL pricing list (including packages/rates) *i already have some of this, i just need to put it all in one place and make a book or something to present it in
- contact local preschools about package info
- check on booth at county fair (how big, what i want to display)
*i know there are other things that i need to get done, but i just can't think of them right now
hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of july :)
much <3
caits
I like that you kept "sweet. simple. southern." I like that a lot!!!
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