Neutral Density Filter Fireworks Photos (Walt Disney World/Disneyland)

[WDWFigment]

All photos taken with a B+W 1.6 ND filter. Used a Nikon D90 or D7000 for all photos; bulb mode with exposures ranging from around 10 seconds to over 200.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4952023733_5b1038ebd9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/4952023733/)
Disneyland's Summer Nightastic Fireworks - "Magical" (78 second exposure) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/4952023733/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5219/5387052611_9b1f7f7dfe.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5387052611/)
Wishes! A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5387052611/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5007/5372644469_301dd6c8c6.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5372644469/)
Weekly Castle Shot #2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5372644469/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/5268257259_7440206d95.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5268257259/)
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5268257259/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

My entire Disney fireworks gallery can be found here: Disney Fireworks - a set on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/sets/72157625777894791/with/4729116496/)

[Twigs]

Beautiful!

[MICKEY88]

All photos taken with a B+W 1.6 ND filter. Used a Nikon D90 or D7000 for all photos; bulb mode with exposures ranging from around 10 seconds to over 200.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4952023733_5b1038ebd9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/4952023733/)
Disneyland's Summer Nightastic Fireworks - "Magical" (78 second exposure) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/4952023733/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5219/5387052611_9b1f7f7dfe.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5387052611/)
Wishes! A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5387052611/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5007/5372644469_301dd6c8c6.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5372644469/)
Weekly Castle Shot #2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5372644469/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/5268257259_7440206d95.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5268257259/)
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/5268257259/) by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment) (http://www.flickr.com/people/tombricker/), on Flickr

My entire Disney fireworks gallery can be found here: Disney Fireworks - a set on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tombricker/sets/72157625777894791/with/4729116496/)

AWESOME as always..:thumbsup2:thumbsup2

[oogieboogieman]

Wow!!! Great photos!!!:worship:

[plyeng2ff]

Just totally amazing

[ukcatfan]

Very nice! You have so much more patience than I do.:rotfl2:

[YEKCIM]

Terrific work, Tom. All of them are wall-hangers.

~Ed

[Gianna'sPapa]

Great work!!:thumbsup2

[KCmike]

You keep on rocking my world. When you start teaching classes I will be first to sign up. Do you accept cash, check, or charge?

[ssanders79]

I never considered using a ND filter at night. Just another thing to put on my to do list.

[nigelp]

What are the advantages of using a ND filter at night?

[photo_chick]

Beautiful!

[annnewjerz]

What are the advantages of using a ND filter at night?

It'll allow for longer exposures without blowing out highlights (and probably gives you better color to the fireworks as well), so you can get a whole series of bursts rather than just one.

[cosmos]

WOW!

:goodvibes

[Quicklabs]

Absolutely stunning, Tom. What an inspiration you are!

[GrillMouster]

As always, Tom, your work is inspring and creative. It goes to show that you don't need the most expensive gear, nor do you need an entire arsenal of equipment to get fantastic images. I attribute the quality of your photos to the fact that you're a thoughtful, disciplined, patient, and deliberate photographer. You think through some of your shots. You experiment. You use a tripod. :)Basically, you do what needs to be done to get the shot that you envision (including staying up to crazy late hours and waiting out park guest and cast members).

As an aside: We live just a little over an hour away from WDW. We get seasonal passes every two or three years. This is our "off" year. However, all the great WDW shots on this board are tempting me to get an annual pass just for myself so that I can go on photo jaunts whenever I want.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, Tom.

[saturndb]

As always Tom Fantastic!:thumbsup2 :worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::wors hip::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship:: worship::worship:

[WDWFigment]

As always, Tom, your work is inspring and creative. It goes to show that you don't need the most expensive gear, nor do you need an entire aresenal of equipment to get fantastic images. I attribute the quality of your photos to the fact that you're a thoughtful, disciplined, patient, and deliberate photographer. You think through some of your shots. You experiment. You use a tripod. :)Basically, you do what needs to be done to get the shot that you envision (including staying up to crazy late hours and waiting out park guest and cast members).

Maybe we have different definitions of expensive equipment, but the stuff I use now is expensive. At least I think it is. Granted, I don't have full frame bodies or a bunch of f/2.8 glass, but I have the Nikon D7000 (wish I would have stuck with the D90!) and a few ~$500 lenses. They're expensive to me!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

[Experiment_626]

This is exactly what I've been contemplating doing myself. Nice to have evidence it will yield the results I want! Now I can maybe justify (to my wife) buying a good quality ND filter.

Just curious -- do you try to set up your camera and focus and then attach the ND filter, or do you put the filter in place first?

Scott

[OKW Lover]

Spectacular!

Just wondering what f-stop and ISO number you were using for these exposures as well.

[Pooh2]

Enjoying your work!

Mmmm... I would have considered your gear to be an expensive arsenal!

I am considering upgrading to a D90 or D7000 from d60. Why do you regret change from 90 to 7000? (I really would not use the video).

[Experiment_626]

Spectacular!

Just wondering what f-stop and ISO number you were using for these exposures as well.Click on the image that interests you to go to its Flickr page. Then click on the "This image was taken with the Nikon D90" (or Nikon D7000, as the case may be) link near the upper right on the page to see the EXIF data for the image in question.

EDIT: Well, that usually works. Can't find it for these particular images, though. Tom, do you have EXIF data disabled for your images? I seem to remember not too long ago being able to find your EXIF information on at least one of these images. Seem to recall you were shooting at ISO 200 around F11, for the ones I looked at more closely -- and as you said, the length of exposure varies wildly.

Scott

[KatherineNaomi]

Really amazing! Love your work :)

[Experiment_626]

So, Tom -- dumb question time. As I understand it, a 1.6 ND filter lowers the light entering the lens by one and two-thirds stops. Presuming you were shooting these images at f11 with the filter, what is the difference between doing that and shooting without the filter, but with your aperture stopped down an additional one and two-thirds stops? Obviously doing the latter would increase diffraction softness in the final image (or, in some other cases, depth of field would be increased, which might be unwanted), but other than that, is there a difference?

Scott