Page 50 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 2 #2

43 FIREWORKS

Keep in mind that the camera used here will 3. Don’t try to think your way through this.
do ISO 50. If yours can’t, start with a higher Once the fireworks start, you won’t have time
F-stop. to think. If you try to, you will miss most or all

Many of these images were taken at F 10 and of your opportunities to get great images.
nearly a 4 second exposure. 4. Don’t just press the shutter. Wait. When the
explosion begins, press the shutter.
Step Three: 5. Set your
Adjust Your focus on a
Sh ut ter point about
Speed where the dis-
play will be,
then switch to
Start out in the 2-3
second range and manual focus.
be prepared to make
adjustments. After After-
each image, check ward:
your LCD. How do Post
the images look? Process-
Be prepared to ad- ing
just your F-stop and
shutter speed. Part of what
makes fire-
Rules of works so
Thumb: powerful “on
film” is the vi-
1. Want more mo- brant contrast
tion? Raise your F- between the
stop to 10 and/or black of the
use a slower shutter nyght sky and
speed. the rich, bold, colors.

2. Don’t take too many images in a row. Why? There is a down side to this. If you don’t work
The memory buffer in your camera will fill and in RAW, there will be a significant amount of
your camera will tell you it’s busy. This is bad noise and there will be little you will be able to
for two reasons: do to correct this.

(a) the camera will lock the shutter until the Don’t overwork your images, even if you do
buffer is emptied and work in RAW. Even with the best camera and
the best RAW converter, noise will become a
(b) you won’t be able to see what your images problem. We use DxO Optics Pro as our RAW
look like. The latter means you won’t have time converter. The images in this essay were pro-
to adjust if something isn’t right. Best to take cessed using Fuji Velvia emulation. Only gam-
one or two, evaluate, and then adjust if need ma, vibrancy, and the high end of the tone
be. curve were adjusted.

nyghtvision magazine Return to Contents volume 2, number 2, summer 2012