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| Iowa, July 4, 2006 |
shoot the works ... tim bloomquist
What would the 4 of July be without fireworks? DARK!
Since our local 4th of July fireworks display moved to a new location this year, this time by the water, I decided to try something I've never done before ... photograph the show!
Most of the still photography work I currently do is landscape. I've had the opportunity to take part in many of Steve's workshops over the past 5 years or so, and I've learned a great deal from those experiences. If you've never done one of these, you're missing out! I wanted to apply the principles of composition I've learned in those workshops for my first fireworks photography outing as well.
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| The trail to the explosion gives the composition balance |
Since this was to be my first attempt at photographing fireworks, I thought it would be a good idea to do just a few minutes of research. To my knowledge, Steve has never covered this topic; at least not when I was around. There's nothing worse then getting back home after going through all the trouble of gearing up, only to find your images are not what you had hoped for. So after a few Google searches on "photographing fireworks" I confirmed what I had expected: Iris at f/11 or f/16 and set the shutter to BULB! That's really all you need to know. Of course you'll need a cable release, a good tripod and don't forget the flashlight. The articles also pointed out "less was more." In other words, don't allow too many "bursts" per exposure. If you do, you can end up with a very confusing image and the potential to be over exposed in the main part of your frame.
So I headed to the show with my Canon 1Dmkll, a cable release, tripod and several lenses (Canon 17-35 2.8L / 28-70 2.8L / 70-200 2.8L). I found a good spot next to the shoreline and plopped myself down on the lawn chair. It's a good idea to get your gear opened up and sorted so you can find it in the dark! Once the show starts you don't want to be fumbling around for the wide lens. Trust me, you'll end missing some great shots if you are constantly messing with your equipment.
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| The background adds intrigue | The bottom of the composition is the focal point here |
One of the things I always try to accomplish with my landscape photography, is to have something in the frame that takes the viewer into the scene, something their eyes can follow. I wanted to apply that same thought here. A good foreground could be anything from rocks on the shore, cattails, or even people just watching the show. Not really seeing anything of great interest, I decided to use the reflections of light on the water to pull my viewers in. To accomplish this I would need be low to the ground. The fireworks were being launched just on the other side of the lake, so in order to see the refection and the main bursts as the fireworks exploded overhead, I would need to be set up just over the water line. It's a good thing I removed the center column of my tripod. You really need to be LOW!
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| Taking on the appearance of a fountain or rose stem brings added interest to the composition |
As it turned out, there was a small breeze that put some ripples in my "mirror lake". But, what the heck... you play your hand. I followed those simple rules of exposure and allowed anywhere from 2-5 bursts per frame. I changed lenses every now and then just to break up the compositions. I knew I wanted to get a few nice close-up images as well! The 70-200 really worked nice for this.
When I got home I was pleased with the outcome. The rippling water really gave me something special. Not the “mirror” I had expected. Instead I had photographed a wonderful series of images that had an impressionist feel to the foreground. The close-up images turned out nice as well. As I said, I was pleased!
If you've never ventured out from your normal type of photography, I would highly recommend doing so. It forced me to look at a craft that many times (for me) becomes second nature. And guess what?... I HAD FUN!
Comment
As most things photographic, the statement is made through composition. The rules stay the same but the situation dictates strategies sometimes not used or thought about all that often. The contrast range doing fireworks is much like doing dawn on a clear day ... but much more so. The highlights are sure to be overexposed in some places but the more important consideration is the underexposed areas.
As in landscape, if your focal point is in shadow you lose detail and usually its strength. If you overexpose the shadow to compensate, most of your composition could be overexposed to the degree that you loose the feeling.
What to do? The approach with me is ... do what you feel!
In my own experience of many July 4th's ago, I was fortunate to be involved with the show itself and was invited to be among the crew as the preparations progressed through the day. When I was given the choice of "helping or shooting" with the presentation that evening I didn't hesitate! I asked the foreman to briefly explain how the show would go and where and when I could photograph.
Like Tim, I had various things to consider and there would not be a rehearsal! I knew having this advantage that I wanted "people making fire" rather than fireworks in general. But how?
I figured that if I took the dark sky out of most of my compositions I'd eliminate most of the concerns described above. This would also allow me an exposure that would make the people silhouettes and hold some of the highlights. Before histograms it was a hand held light meter of course and I took readings for the brightest areas and bracketed in both directions from there.
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| Burbank California in the early 90's In my first few images I refined both composition and exposure |
Being on a tripod of course made it both easier and more difficult. I had to negotiate hills and at times as the show progressed, I was actually right behind the people with the flares, as they walked or ran up to light the bombs. I did a number of different compositions that seemed to worked but finally came to the one that I wanted. It presented some hoops to jump thought however.
The composition had movement in it and at different times and places. I realized what I wanted was the motion of the hand held flare moving up to the staging area and then the explosion of the launch. From watching and shooting I knew that after a long barrage from the battery pictured in the middle of the frame to the extreme right, the area would be covered with colored smoke adding more to the image ... if I could capture it all!
My biggest problem was the concussion itself. I weighted down the tripod and actually pressed down on the top of the rig with both hands to help steady the blow. I practiced the timing many times . With the camera set to bulb (I counted out loud the seconds I would need) and the aperture set to give me as much depth of field as possible with the ISO film speed used to give me the meter reading discussed above using the seconds counted for the equation (Many passing years have taken the exact reading from me) I released the shutter as the person with the flare was tapped on the shoulder ... this was the signal given by the director (you can see them on the bottom right ) to go to the pad and light the missile. You can clearly see that track in the CD insert. I then waited and braced for the explosion and closed the shutter. The difference in the time it took each different person to light the fuse became the shutter speed and therefore also the bracket. As you might expect, many rolls of film were exposed that evening!
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| Here my image was translated into a statement for a rock band. They saw it as something of a cult image! |
I was approached sometime after by an art design company for the use of one of the images on a CD insert. The real honor came when they informed me that they already had the art work done but thought my image so important to the project that they converted the the cover to a gatefold design to accommodate it. The image appears opposite the disc when opened.
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