Fireworks - Skyfire 2011

Last weekend was Skyfire - a firework show which is held over Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra on a yearly basis. I originally wasn't planning on going along, and the on/off again rain of the night didn't do much to help.  I did however, receive a tripod for my Birthday recently, so at the last minute I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to test out taking some photos of fireworks.

I did my research beforehand...

http://www.photojournalist-tgh.tv/photojournalism/fireworks-photography-tips

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/digitalcameras/tips-for-photographing-fireworks/974

 
... and determined the general consensus on taking good firework pictures seemed to be low ISO, long exposure, manual focus and a mid range aperture.

As I do not have a shutter release cable, I had to set the self timer to 2 seconds, then press the button before I expected the fireworks to be visible. As a result, using shorter exposures (such as 1 second) didn't seem to capture the moment as I intended as the timing was too difficult. For a solution, I opted for longer exposures (ranging from 4  - 30 seconds) making it impossible to miss the action.

On  side note, after coming home I decided (a) I did want a remote shutter release, but (b) I wanted one cheaply, so I jumped on eBay and have ordered myself the following Infared Remote Shutter Release. For $5.49 it will be interesting to see how it goes!

Some of the results...

f/11, 3.2s, ISO 100

f/11, 13s, ISO 320

f/11, 5s, ISO 125

Landscapes

Over the last couple of weeks I've decided I like landscape pics - both looking and taking. I think it is because I enjoy doing almost anything outdoors - and taking landscapes involves getting out and about - a perfect combination of my interests!

Considering this, I've taken my camera with me a couple of mornings on my ride to work. Once winter kicks in with a bit more force the lake will have a low fog and the sun will be rising far later so I think there should be a few chances to get a good shot or two.

For the time being however, this is a sample of what I've managed.

 

f11, 1/125s, ISO 100

f7.1, 1/50s, ISO 100

Shutter Speed - New Zealand and Fiji

It's been a while since my last post - I've been busy getting married, going on a honeymoon, attending another wedding, starting a new years of work and now moving house - but anyway...

I decided to write this post on shutter speed because it is something which I have been particularly enjoying playing with on my camera over the previous weeks. Essentially, the shutter speed is controlling the amount of light which enters the camera, but particularly, for what period of time light is allowed to enter the lens and "hit the film" (or the digital sensor). I found this to be a good summary with some good pics: http://mansurovs.com/what-is-shutter-speed-in-photography

At the moment I have only played around with slow shutter speeds, or long exposures.

One of the essential things I've realised I need (but don't have) is a tripod. This ensures that you capture the movement of things that are moving, but do not "shake" the things that are not moving. I don't have a tripod, so have had to rely on rocks and chairs and garbage bins, however a tripod really would have made getting good compositions easier as you are not restricted to relying on where local councils have places benches!

So, a few tips that I've picked up:

• If possible, keep the ISO as low as possible to reduce noise. This might not be possible in low light conditions though.
• Use the 2 second timer (or a remote) to take the pics so that you do not shake the lens as you press the button down.
• Allegedly turning the image stabilizer off assists in reducing image blur (a paradox I know, but it's recommended none the less by many people)
• Try lots of different exposure times / ISO combinations to find the perfect mix. 

Here, a tripod would have been nice as the lights in the background would not have been blurred. Instead, this was handheld, however with quite a short exposure time.

This was taken sitting my camera precariously on a rock over looking the pond. As it was during the day I used a low ISO (200 if I remember) but only exposed for 3 seconds.

The above picture was taken when it was quite dark, probably about 9.30 at night. I had to use a high ISO and a long exposure time of 30 seconds, hence the noise - It did however help some of the stars make an appearance in the background. 

Again, water always seems to look good on long exposures. This was a low ISO (I think 100) but a long exposure (about 30 secs).

This picture was taken far earlier than the same little "hut" above, hence the reduced noise (I managed to use ISO 100) and a slightly shorter exposure time (about 10 secs).  Unfortunately the tide was not as far in.