There was a good discussion on this topic recently on the Panoguide

forums too:



http://www.panoguide.com/forums/qna/5380/



Aaron Spence.

Sometime around 22/11/08 (at 01:51 +0000) Rey Mendoza,Jr. said:



>Since fireworks would need longer exposures, is doing a VR impossible?



My thoughts would be to use a major fisheye so you need as few shots

as possible, choose your 'square on' position carefully, and maybe

try tipping up slightly so you don't need a separate zenith shot.



And shoot as many as possible to maximise your chances of ending up

with a usable set.



(You could even try the probably more controversial approach of

tilting the pano head itself so you're shooting more upwards when

facing the main fireworks area and rotating downwards when pointing

away. Then work at relevelling the equirect when you stitch

everything back together... I don't know if it'd work well for your

subject, I did something like this properly only once.)



k

--- In PanoToolsNG@yahoogroups.com, "Rey Mendoza,Jr." <reymendoza@...> wrote:

>

> Hello,

>

> I'll be covering a boy scout jamboree (8,00 participants) where

> fireworks will be done on the last day including bonfire.

>

> Since fireworks would need longer exposures, is doing a VR impossible?

> Any tips?



Shooting Fireworks panoramas the traditional way with 4-8 sec exposure and small

aperture/low asa is an impossible solution in a crowd of people if you want to

see

anything at all of the environment.



What you can do is using 2 cameras with one shooting the fireworks and one the

actual

panorama. In most cases the fireworks is only in one direction.



This is how the first panorama was shot at this fireworks festival.

http://www.panoramas.dk/2008/ildregatta-silkeborg/



The second firework panorama was shot handheld on a monopod above the head at

1/40

sec F2.8 and 800ASA Nikkor 10.5mm on a 5D



Even at the brightest explosions the people behind me were underexposed 1 stop

and had

to get some extra exposure in the raw conversion.



As you can see firework shot this way look much different from the traditional

one which

in reality is a manipulated one  where the long exposure gives you a view you

actually do

not see.



Hans

Rey&All,



Erik's point about making sure to shoot the crowd when they are lit by other

fireworks is important. The reason for my reply here is to showoff one of my

favourite panoramas where I had to try and do just that:



http://www.360precision.com/sbm/pano/fireworks.html



It's technically awful, but was shot with a nikon 4500 + FCE8 (not renown for

low light/high ISO capability). It's me and all my best mates at a may ball.

Happy days.



I don't think it really cuts the mustard with what you should be able to do with

a modern cam though ;-D



Stu









[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Erik's description is pretty close to the technique I used here:



http://www.panaviz.com/scenic-oahu/night/



Dave







Erik Krause wrote:

>

> Rey Mendoza,Jr. wrote:

>> I'll be covering a boy scout jamboree (8,00 participants) where

>> fireworks will be done on the last day including bonfire.

>>

>> Since fireworks would need longer exposures, is doing a VR impossible?

>

> No, it's possible. You got examples. However, good planning will be

> required.

>

> General tips for shooting fireworks: f-stops between f/5.6 and f/16 at

> ISO 100 will give you good results. Higher f/number will give you

> fainter lines of the single maroons, less overexposed and hence with

> better colors. Lower numbers will give you thicker lines but more likely

> overexposed to white. Professional fireworks usually is brighter and

> needs higher f/number than private one.

>

> It's a good idea to direct the camera such that the field of view covers

> the whole area where fireworks are to be expected. A fisheye might be

> required. Set exposure time to 30 seconds if darkness permits without

> getting a pale gray sky background. Use a shorter time if necessary

> (test before!).

>

> Just shoot this frame several times during the fireworks. You can later

> overlay images in photoshop with layer mode "brighten" to get a denser

> fireworks.

>

> For a VR I'd shoot the fireworks and the people in different sessions,

> may be even at higher ISO to get shorter times for the people. It might

> be a good idea to shoot the rest of the sky at the above given exposure

> values before the fireworks begins in order to get a uniform sky later

> and have enough time for the people.

>

> You need the reflection of the fireworks in the faces, hence you need to

> shoot both versions while the fireworks still goes on. In case of a

> professional fireworks it might be a good idea to ask the organizers how

> long it would last.

>

> In any case: shoot RAW! Fireworks have a very low general color

> temperature (almost as low as candle light). You won't get the blue and

> green colors if you shoot at daylight or even tungsten white balance.

>

> --

> Erik Krause

> http://www.erik-krause.de

>

>

> -----

> Erik Krause

> http://www.erik-krause.de

>



--

View this message in context:

http://www.nabble.com/Shooting-fireworks%2C-is-a-panorama-shot-doable--tp2063252\

3p20635872.html

Sent from the PanoToolsNG mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Absolutely



http://www.bhphoto.biz/hastings/multi.html and http://www.bhphoto.biz/

bonfire/bishop/index.html -



some tips, first decide if you are more interested in the fireworks

or the crowd.  If it is mainly the fireworks and you are happy to

have a static shooting position then set up on a tripod ( approach

the organizers at the earliest possible opportunity if you want

access to non public areas - you may have to have liability insurance

and may also have to complete a Risk Assessment)  If you want to move

around in the crowd then use a monopod as a tripod will be almost

impossible.  With the camera fixed on the tripod you may be able to

shoot one pano whilst the fire burns brightly and illuminates the

crowd and then a second to record the fireworks which are usually

fired after the fire has burnt down.  Blending the two should be

simple enough.



The examples that I have linked to were shot on a monopod at between

1/20 and 1/30 second - about f8 -  3200 ISO



Hope this helps



Bruce Hemming

Bruce Hemming Photography

Tel: +44 (0)1580 200277

Mobile: +44 (0)7974 918414

e-Mail: bruce@...

Skype: bhemmingphoto

web :http://www.bhphoto.biz/





















[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi



here some information about the Rio New Year Pano



Nikkor 8mm -2.8



Nikon D300



1/30s



ISO 3200



and   a bit of flash....



the firework started about 1 min too early and everybody  was not

really fully prepared  and I had no clue  of the light to expect

during the fireworks. If you shoot too late during the  fireworks  you

might end up  in a cloud of smoke







Willy Kaemena



http://homepage.mac.com/wkaemena/FSPanos/Menu268.html

http://bremen.360cities.net/

http://syria.360cities.net/

http://lisbon.360cities.net/







On Nov 22, 2008, at 7:46, Uri Cogan wrote:



> Rey Mendoza,Jr. wrote:

> >> It's quite possible - it seems that very long exposure times may

> not be

> >> necessary, and people don't move too much when watching

> fireworks. Here

> >> are some good examples (I found many more):

> >>

> >> http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2008/Rio-Brazil-new-year.html

> >>

> >>

> > The Rio de Janeiro fireworks VR is stunning! What would be the

> > setting for this? I currently use sigma 8mm on a canon 400d

> >

>

> Looking at that panorama, you will find a link to Willy Kaemena, who

> created it. If you follow that link, you will find a way to ask

> him. :-)

>

> Uri

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>

>

>























[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Rey Mendoza,Jr. wrote:

> I'll be covering a boy scout jamboree (8,00 participants) where

> fireworks will be done on the last day including bonfire.

>

> Since fireworks would need longer exposures, is doing a VR impossible?



No, it's possible. You got examples. However, good planning will be

required.



General tips for shooting fireworks: f-stops between f/5.6 and f/16 at

ISO 100 will give you good results. Higher f/number will give you

fainter lines of the single maroons, less overexposed and hence with

better colors. Lower numbers will give you thicker lines but more likely

overexposed to white. Professional fireworks usually is brighter and

needs higher f/number than private one.



It's a good idea to direct the camera such that the field of view covers

the whole area where fireworks are to be expected. A fisheye might be

required. Set exposure time to 30 seconds if darkness permits without

getting a pale gray sky background. Use a shorter time if necessary

(test before!).



Just shoot this frame several times during the fireworks. You can later

overlay images in photoshop with layer mode "brighten" to get a denser

fireworks.



For a VR I'd shoot the fireworks and the people in different sessions,

may be even at higher ISO to get shorter times for the people. It might

be a good idea to shoot the rest of the sky at the above given exposure

values before the fireworks begins in order to get a uniform sky later

and have enough time for the people.



You need the reflection of the fireworks in the faces, hence you need to

shoot both versions while the fireworks still goes on. In case of a

professional fireworks it might be a good idea to ask the organizers how

long it would last.



In any case: shoot RAW! Fireworks have a very low general color

temperature (almost as low as candle light). You won't get the blue and

green colors if you shoot at daylight or even tungsten white balance.



--

Erik Krause

http://www.erik-krause.de

Rey Mendoza,Jr. wrote:

>> It's quite possible - it seems that very long exposure times may not be

>> necessary, and people don't move too much when watching fireworks. Here

>> are some good examples (I found many more):

>>

>> http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2008/Rio-Brazil-new-year.html

>>

>>

>  The Rio de Janeiro fireworks VR is stunning! What would be the

> setting for this? I currently use sigma 8mm on a canon 400d

>





Looking at that panorama, you will find a link to Willy Kaemena, who

created it. If you follow that link, you will find a way to ask him.   :-)





Uri







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> It's quite possible - it seems that very long exposure times may not be

> necessary, and people don't move too much when watching fireworks. Here

> are some good examples (I found many more):

>

> http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2008/Rio-Brazil-new-year.html

>

  The Rio de Janeiro fireworks VR is stunning! What would be the

setting for this? I currently use sigma 8mm on a canon 400d

Rey Mendoza,Jr. wrote:



> Since fireworks would need longer exposures, is doing a VR impossible?

> Any tips?

>



It's quite possible - it seems that very long exposure times may not be

necessary, and people don't move too much when watching fireworks. Here

are some good examples (I found many more):



http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2008/Rio-Brazil-new-year.html



http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2008/london-new-year.html



http://www.panoramas.dk/new-year-2008/sydney-new-year.html



http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full28.html





Uri

Hello,



I'll be covering a boy scout jamboree (8,00 participants) where

fireworks will be done on the last day including bonfire.



Since fireworks would need longer exposures, is doing a VR impossible?

Any tips?



Thanks in advance,

ReyMendoza.com