taking firework and night pictures

[Tinkerbell]

HOw can I practise taking shots, so that when i go back to wdw i am prepared for takinh photos during parades and fireworls etc.

Have attached efforts from last year as you can see really rubbish.

I have a minolta dimage z1








Also this one Why do some of my close up get blurred dispite have auto focus?



Many thanks in advance for your help

[Guest]

When you take a night shot like that, the exposure is really slow, so you have to hold the camera very steady for longer than the usual "click".

The light in your pics is ok, but the blurring is because you're not still enough.

Practise bracing your arms against your body, or placing the camera on a wall or some firm surface.(Hard in the crowds, sometimes). Or to be really prof., use a tripod.

[Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by freckles

When you take a night shot like that, the exposure is really slow, so you have to hold the camera very steady for longer than the usual "click".

The light in your pics is ok, but the blurring is because you're not still enough.

Practise bracing your arms against your body, or placing the camera on a wall or some firm surface.(Hard in the crowds, sometimes). Or to be really prof., use a tripod.

See more...

Thanks for that advice

I will practice that many thanks

[Guest]

hi
i practiced in a supermarket car park, taking photos of the lighting, moving cars and stationary ones. anything really that was lit up after dark. we are also lucky to have busy road with a bridge over it fairly nearby so i took photos from there at nighy until i got good clear pictures. what i often do with fireworks is set the camera to multipleshots and turn the flash off.my camera will fire off 40 photos in succession at one touch of the button. i usually manage to get 20 or so good ones and then just delete the rubbish!

[AndyJ]

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=110574

Above is the guide I wrote gathering tips from many Dibbers.

Number 1 tip: Keep the camera still.

[AndyJ]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbell

Also this one Why do some of my close up get blurred dispite have auto focus?

Many thanks in advance for your help

See more...

All camera lenses have an "effective focal range" which in English means they will only work if they are a certain distance from an object at a given zoom setting.

A very nice system in your camera it seems...

"Rapid Autofocus Powerful optics combined with a high-resolution 3.3 megapixel 1/2.7 interline primary-color CCD require a powerful autofocus system. The Dimage Z1 features Rapid AF to ensure sharp images with minimum delay. The Rapid AF system uses high-speed drive to focus the lens quickly and smoothly - a 0.3 second focusing time at a focal length of 5.8mm and 0.4 seconds at 58mm -- giving the Dimage Z1 the world's fastest AF among digital cameras with a built-in 10X or greater optical zoom."


..

Also, autofocus has a very bad time in low light conditions. Most auto-focus systems work by analysing contrasting areas, and when its dark there isnt much to work with.

Hope this helps =) AndyJ.

[rusty30]

I find the night parades notoriously hard to shoot. Moving floats do not work well with slow shutter speeds and you just get blurry lights!

Ideally, ask a CM where abouts on the parade route the floats stop and try and place yourself near one of those. A tripod will be pretty much essential for GREAT shots, although a well placed railing or bin can be utilised quite nicely!

I found Illuminations quite easy to shoot as there are many handy fences around the lake at Epcot and I simply balanced my camera steady on that and got some good shots (I wont post them as Ive posted them several times before ). Just keep still and I found an exposure of 1.6 seconds worked the best.

Wishes was harder as you have to get the exposure on the castle right (and it changes colour all the time) plus get the fireworks in. I focused on the castle then tried various exposure times. Unfortunately, most came out with too much "noise" as the camera defaulted to a very high ISO speed and I couldnt tell how bad it was on the little screen. I really dont think Ive ever seen a GREAT picture of Wishes and the castle taken handheld. You really need a tripod for this one - or a very steady surface in the right spot - but there isnt many accessible ones as Ive looked.

[Andre]

Originally Posted by rusty30

Unfortunately, most came out with too much "noise" as the camera defaulted to a very high ISO speed and I couldnt tell how bad it was on the little screen.

See more...

You are going to love your new camera in that respect by the way, fabulous high-ISO performance.

Andre

[Guest]

Andy, that guide is fantastic!
I was very disappointed with a lot of my night and firework pictures last year so those tips will really help me get some much better shots this year!
Many thanks!

[rusty30]

We shall expect night shots of luminious Crocs then shall we? They must sell glow in the dark ones by now!