I had earlier posted of the biggest and most expensive firework event taking place this weekend.
Shooting Fireworks is always magical with the beautiful colors and the illumination produced. Generally people tend to think to shoot firework they may have to invest on powerful camera gears or telephoto lens. You can capture beautiful stunning images using a standard kit lens available depending on the camera make unless you need to fill your frame with fireworks then generally a telephoto lens (70-300 mm) will serve the purpose, else you may need to crop the picture.
Few quick tips to get those beautiful streaks of lights in your image
1. Check your location: It’s important to reach early, so as to get an unobstructed view. Check your horizon and the background, reflection of lights on the water or having a nice backdrop will add more dynamic change to your picture.
2. Use a Tripod: Since we would be using long exposure, there is every chance for camera shake. If you don’t have a tripod, then make sure to brace your camera against wall, railing or even a car to keep it steady. If you have no options then you may need to increase the ISO, this will give you shorter exposure without blurs but will also introduce noise in your image. You will need image noise removal application to reduce the noise during the post processing stage.
3. Remote Release: A wired cable release or a remote release will help you to eliminate the minimum camera shake. If you don’t have a remote release, the best would be to use the self-timer of the camera after setting the desired time. You may loose on the initial few shots of firework as you tend to calculate the time the shell reaches the sky and burst out.
4. Focus Setting: On a DSLR camera choose the M (Manual) mode and manually focus your lens to infinity (∞). You have to readjust the focus . On a Point & Shoot camera, you can use the Firework mode, landscape mode or the least night portrait mode depending on the availability on your camera.
5. Flash off: Camera flash or flash-guns are not powerful enough to reach fireworks.
6. ISO, Aperture & Shutter speed: The higher your ISO, the more sensitive your camera is to light. When shooting longer exposures (long shutter speeds) high ISO can introduce a lot of digital noise to your photograph. An ISO setting of 100 is a good bet. Check the following setting and experiment accordingly. (ISO 50 – Aperture range: f/5.6 – 11; ISO 100 – Aperture range: f/8 to 16; ISO 200 – Aperture range: f/11 to 22). Long Shutter speed will help to capture a perfect shot, you may need to experiment by using 2 sec to 10 sec or more depending on the duration of firework to see what works best. If you have a B (Bulb) mode setting you can use it to control exactly how long your shutter is open. The trick is to open the shutter right at the beginning of the burst and close it when it reaches its peak. Allow the smoke to disappear before you take the next shoot.
7. Take plenty of pictures: Carry more than 1 card, shooting firework is quite addictive. Try different setting, preview your first few shots to know you are satisfied with the settings.
Finally enjoy the show and be safe.
Kuwait is all geared to host the biggest and the most expensive Firework show on 10th Nov,2012 as they head to break the world record for the biggest firework yet along the Gulf Road starting from the Kuwait Tower all the way up to the Green Island to celebrate 50th year anniversary of the constitution. It’s told a whooping 4 million plus KD has been spent on fireworks, plenty of steel offshore platform structures has been created for the fireworks. A New Mexico based company Desert Areospace has been hired to tap 3 planes fitted with firework at the tail for the show.
Check the video of the News report from KRQE News
This truly will be one great historic event you won’t want to miss. Now guys, this won’t be just Fireworks, the show will include lit kites, Flying Falcons, Floating Creatures, Laser, Sound and 3D projections. The approx 4.5 km area starting from Ruby Tuesday near the Kuwait Towers extending to the Green Island has been divided into 9 Zones.
The show will start at 3:00 pm with entertainment program followed by fireworks at 8:00 pm and the final closure at around 10:00 pm. Reports indicate that the fireworks shall continue non-stop over an hour and is expected to break the previous 7 Guinness World Records. The show is sure to invite lots of people from neighboring regions to witness this landmark event.
It’s advised to reach the event place well in advance as traffic would be crazy. To all my photo geek friends this is will be one great event you would love to shoot.
The 3rd International Filter Photo Contest 2012-2013 sponsored by Kenko Tokina Co.Ltd is open to all photos that has been taken with the aid of a filter (any brand) with the aim of expanding creative possibilities.
Applications are open to image data of both types, both in color or black and white, as long as the photos are taken using a filter. Filters such as protectors, whose filter effects cannot be seen on works, are not permitted. Photos treated or processed using computer software are not eligible
The contest is open from 1st October, 2012 until 30th November, 2013. There are prizes set every 3 months in stages during the contest for encouragement.
1st Stage: 1st October – 31st December, 2012
2nd Stage: 1st January – 31st March, 2013
3rd Stage: 1st April – June, 2013
4th Stage: July – November, 2013
To enter and know more of the Contest prerequisites and procedure click here
Thanks Ahmed Abul Burghul
The winners and participants of the recently concluded “Expression of Love” photo contest organized by ShutterXpose were felicitated and the winners awarded with their prizes. The function was private and held over the weekend at Salmiya Play School. A brief introduction of ShutterXpose activities and their future work plans were discussed. The attendees were briefed on the judges of the contest and the evaluation process. Images of the Top contenders of the contest were discussed, most of the participants expressed their happiness on conducting such contest including the professionalism and transparency. Participants were felicitated with certificates.
ShutterXpose once again takes the opportunity to congratulate the winners and all the participants for their active participation and making our 1st photography competition a great success. The continuous support from the Judges, Coordinators (Prashanth, Rakshak, Rilson, Yogee & Unni Krishnan) and the readers helped us with brighter ideas and high spirits (no pun intended). Participants who couldn’t attend the function are requested to email us with their mobile numbers ASAP, so as the certificates could be delivered.
Pictures of the event: (by Prashanth Shetty)
ShutterXpose team is quite pleased to be associated with couple of Professional photographers during their recent concluded photography contest. The team decided to have the contest evaluated by these professionals and then consider the aggregate points of each image based on technical evaluation to have the final 3 winners, so as to have an unbiased result. I along with the team felt quite honoured when these professionals agreed to form a 3 panel jury and conclude the evaluation result. The following were the judges for the contest.
