Get your gear out tonight to capture the New Year fireworks display, Nur Ismail Mohammed has some tips
IF you plan to capture some fireworks display, tonight is the best time to do it. At midnight, there will be many fireworks display around Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, as well as other parts of the country.
In Kuala Lumpur, the KLCC, Dataran Merdeka and Bukit Bintang areas are normally the favourite spots for fireworks display. As usual, hundreds of thousands of people will flock to the city centre for the New Year’s countdown and celebration.
There will be thousands of postings on social media on the fireworks as soon the shows start, but how do you make your photos better or a class above the rest? There are ways and techniques to do it.
Shooting fireworks is something special since you don’t get to do it often. However, you have to do it right as a firework display normally lasts between5and 15 minutes only.
Here are five tips that will make your fireworks photos stand out.
1. LOCATION: Survey the location to shoot the fireworks display ahead of time and be there early. You need to scout around for the ideal locations to shoot the fireworks. Estimate the height of the fireworks. It will also tell you what lens you need. Generally, I will shoot with my widest available wide-angle lens. Chances are, others will be there, too. So, you may need to go early and book your spot. This photo was shot from a 55-storey building at Jalan Conlay. Camera settings: Focal length 16mm, f/8, 4 sec, ISO 100.
2. SHOOT AT THE START: At the beginning of the fireworks display, the smokes from the fireworks are still minimal for you to capture clear light streaks. But towards the midway and end of the fireworks display, smoke will fill the sky and it will be difficult to capture the thin light streaks. You’ll also get light pollution from the reflection of the smoke. This shot was made in Cyberjaya during the Putrajaya International Fireworks Competition. Camera settings: Focal length 10mm, f/8, 16 sec, ISO 100, using black card.
3. STURDY TRIPOD AND REMOTE SHUTTER RELEASE: This is necessary as you need to have the camera very still for a few seconds, and it is impossible to shoot handheld this long. You may rest your camera on a solid surface if you don’t have a tripod. You can also use the camera’s self-timer but you may risk losing that moment when the camera is waiting for the timer before the shutter clicks. So, your remote shutter release will be your bestfriend. This scene was captured in Darling Harbour in Sydney, Australia. Camera settings: Focal length 14mm, f/8, 2.0 sec, ISO 200.
4. MANUAL MODE: I would choose the aperture between f/8-f11 to ensure that the fireworks appear sharp, together with the background. You will also get well-exposed fireworks with thin light streak at those apertures. If you go wider, more light will come in and in turn, make the light streaks wider and over exposed. Long exposure shots may attract noise at high ISO. So, ISO 100-200 is good enough to capture the fireworks. Anything higher, you may risk having noise issue, although there are advanced cameras nowadays that can handle this noise issue at higher ISO. This was shot from a 50-storey building next to the KLCC Precinct. Focal length 20mm, f/8, 5 sec, ISO 100. This was one of the first fireworks explosion, captured at midnight.
5. CORRECT SHUTTER SPEED: Choosing the correct shutter speed is crucial in getting the length of the fireworks display, from the launch until the explosion in the sky. Alternatively, you can set your camera to BULB mode, say for 30 seconds, and using a black card to cover and open the lens to capture the images. You can get multiple explosions from a single shutter click. This shot was made in Putrajaya. Camera settings: Focal length 50mm, f/8, 3 sec, ISO 100.