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I had hoped to have experimented with fireworks already during the Fourth of July before going to Disney World but circumstances had me change my plans. Now I would have to learn under fire at the main event.
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| Exposure: 3 sec Aperture: f/8 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 62mm |
From my balcony at the Bay Lake Towers at Disney's Contemporary Resort, I setup my tripod, zoomed in with my 55-200mm lens, carefully set the manual focus. I also had a remote for my camera and set the exposure time to be 3 seconds. I read some tips to have your aperture between f8-f16 so I experimented with that some. I tried to get both Cinderella's castle and Space Mountain in the shot. At this point I had no idea where the fireworks would actually be located. I just thought that this would provide a nice horizon and a well composed base for the fireworks above. (See picture on the right, click to enlarge).
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| Exposure: 3 sec Aperture: f/10 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 62mm |
The reality of the situation is that the big fireworks would actually be shot off to the upper right side of Space Mountain (pictured left.) In a panic I re-adjusted everything. I tried zooming out some more but I was afraid the castle would be too small. I considered zooming just to the castle but the big impressive fireworks are over Space Mountain. Its really pick your poison when shooting from this angle because I believe they design the show to be watched from in front of the castle with the large fireworks directly behind. We're watching from the east side.
The problem I had at this angle was if I zoom out or use a wide angle lens, I would have a lot of dead air above the castle or Space Mountain. If I zoom in, I would have to pick one set of fireworks over the other. I would rather just pick one angle instead of alternating between the two and having to re-focus, etc. Here are my favorite two shots from the first night of shooting. (click on the photo to enlarge)
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| Exposure: 3 sec Aperture: f/10 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 62mm |
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| Exposure: 3 sec Aperture: f/10 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 55mm |
The second night of shooting from my balcony (we're going to skip over my "No tripod at Epcot's Illuminations" fiasco) I tried a wider angle and longer exposure. I thought about using 10 to 15 seconds for exposure but changed my mind. I thought that it was be just a jumble of crap in the photo. I settled on 6 and 8 second exposures. I also tried, for the first time, a neutral density filter the second night to maybe help with a longer exposure and still keep it relatively dark. The results were exactly as I feared with a wide angle, lots of dead space. Here are some of the better ones from that second night.
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| Exposure: 8 sec Aperture: f/13 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 38mm |
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| Exposure: 8 Sec Aperture: f/13 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 38mm |
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| Exposure: 8 Sec Aperture: f/13 ISO: 100 Focal Length: 38mm
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(And here's a shot of the disaster at Epcot with no tripod. Enlarge if you dare)
