Shooting wishes

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

We had our group setup on the beach in front of the Hawaii building. Shots are from 60mm-80mm on a Dx.

 

[Evad]

Great shots guys!!

I will be right there come this Oct. The 22nd actually. We are staying one night in WDW before our cruise. Gdad will be joining me as well. What can be any better then dinner at Ohana and then Wishes... Can't wait!!!!

 

[Golf4food]

Thanks much, everyone. That helps a lot. Looks like I'll use my 50-200mm and not have to worry about swapping lenses from there (and I can put it on inside the great house instead of trying to change lenses on a sandy beach).

 

[wdwnut76]

I passed your question on to my husband, who has photographed the MK fireworks from the Poly beach more than once. Here is his input:


If using an SLR (film or digital) and you’re at the Poly beach:

1. Use a tripod.

2. Use a 50mm lens/set the zoom to about 50mm (or to whatever field of view you like).

o 24mm is too wide and anything longer than 50mm is too close, IMHO

3. Use 400 ISO film/set the camera to 400 ISO.

4. Set the f-stop to f/8 or even f/16.

5. Set the camera to “B” or “Bulb” setting.

6. Attach a cable release.

7. When you see the rocket start up press the cable release to open the shutter.

8. After the rocket bursts and fades close the shutter.

o If a film camera advance the film.

9. Repeat Steps 7. and 8. For as long as you have film/space on the memory card.​

Hope this helps,

Kornel

(He also gave me a picture to insert, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.)

 

[hjd0411]

Hey guys - thanks so much!!

I hope to try this on Sunday night!! I got in to Orlando last night and if anyone is interested the weather is h-o-t..!! A bit of rain yesterday, but none today!

Thanks for the tips.

 

[Docarino]

I'm leaving in under 2 weeks! It's my first trip with an slr so I'm really excited to take some pictures of Wishes but I'm a little nervous about the whole process of staking out a spot and setting up my tripod. I'm wondering- do people have an easier time setting up and getting a good spot on nights with spectromagic or nights without it? How early do you recommend setting up?

Thanks!

 

[ukcatfan]

I'm leaving in under 2 weeks! It's my first trip with an slr so I'm really excited to take some pictures of Wishes but I'm a little nervous about the whole process of staking out a spot and setting up my tripod. I'm wondering- do people have an easier time setting up and getting a good spot on nights with spectromagic or nights without it? How early do you recommend setting up?

Thanks!

My guess is that it is easier if there is no Spectro since people will stay in the same spot for both.

 

[Golf4food]

Hey guys - thanks so much!!

I hope to try this on Sunday night!! I got in to Orlando last night and if anyone is interested the weather is h-o-t..!! A bit of rain yesterday, but none today!

Thanks for the tips.

How'd it go? Any good shots?


And it is not hot yet - if you are a Florida native.

It's only slightly warm yet.

 

[hjd0411]

How'd it go? Any good shots?


And it is not hot yet - if you are a Florida native.

It's only slightly warm yet.

Hi Golf4food! Well, it went OK, I think - for my first attempt!! I am trying to work out how to get my RAW photos up (I'm very, very dumb, I think, when it comes to processing these things..!! ). Anyway, the photos look OK on my laptop! The electric water pageant stopped right in front of me, and it was a bit windy, so there is a bit of "wobble" in that part of the picture. But the view is really good and the music is piped in, so you hear it all too. The photos above are very accurate as to how yours will look.
As to the weather - I'm not a native of Florida, so it is hot for me!!! I'm from a sub tropical part of Australia, though, but we are starting to head towards winter, so I am re-acclimatising!! For us, even though the temp is 80-90, the parks are very hot (at least Epcot was today!!) But I know you are in for hotter than this..!!!

 

[hjd0411]

Sorry for the great number, but these are my attempts at these photos! These are the JPEG's (for my sanity's sake!!). You can see what I mean re the EWP and movement - but I still have to learn how long to leave the shutter open as well!
It's my first attempt with this camera for fireworks, and using the tripod (I know I should have used it before I went away!) As I am here for a little longer I hope I can try again and learn from my mistakes!!!

 

[Groucho]

We had snow here yesterday - I am ready for some warm Florida weather.

Not bad for your first shots. Ideal setup includes a remote shutter release and the camera on Bulb mode. If you don't have a remote shutter release, then if you want really sharp photos, try using the 2-second delay. This should give the camera a chance to "settle down" before taking the photo - the downside, of course, is that you're kind of guessing on when the fireworks will show.

Once you get to processing the raws, you may want to try playing with the white balance. When I first went through my shots below, they had a terrible brown color cast. Moving to a cooler white balance made a big difference!

I did some Wishes shots from the Poly beach a few years ago. I have no idea what building we were in front of, but I remember that we went to the right after the walkway that leads to the beach and went maybe a couple buildings down. I did get some strange horizontal lines - presumably a boat going by?

You can get some nice hotel shots from there, too.

 

[Golf4food]

Plenty of ideas now, at least.

Will be my first fireworks shoot with the new K-7. Contemplating trying to shoot a sequence using the timed shutter release feature and just tell it to shoot for 2 seconds every 2-3 seconds or some such - and shoot in JPEG - so I can just stand and watch and not have to worry about timing or clicking and just trust that a few will turn out ok... We'll be in the MK for Wishes the next night so I'll have two opportunities to shoot. I figure I can blow some shots from the Poly.

 

[hjd0411]

Thanks Groucho! Sorry to hear about snow! Is that very late in the year for snow?
Believe it or not I have a remote shutter release. I think, on reflection, I left the shutter open for too long. I will also try to adjust the white balance to see what a difference it makes. Oh - and those lines on your photos are the floats from EWP passing by - I have them on mine too when the lights weren't on!
I look forward to seeing your shots, Golf4food - I'm sure they will be great!

 

[randallsghost]

Poly is an excellent place to see Wishes!

Tonight you can check Wishes out Live from the Contemporary on this site >

http://kfc.ms/fCq4

 

[Groucho]

Will be my first fireworks shoot with the new K-7. Contemplating trying to shoot a sequence using the timed shutter release feature and just tell it to shoot for 2 seconds every 2-3 seconds or some such - and shoot in JPEG - so I can just stand and watch and not have to worry about timing or clicking and just trust that a few will turn out ok... We'll be in the MK for Wishes the next night so I'll have two opportunities to shoot. I figure I can blow some shots from the Poly.

Why jpg? The K-7's auto WB is very, very good - but still, I'd hate to give up the ability to easily adjust the WB of night photos.

Thanks Groucho! Sorry to hear about snow! Is that very late in the year for snow?
Believe it or not I have a remote shutter release. I think, on reflection, I left the shutter open for too long. I will also try to adjust the white balance to see what a difference it makes. Oh - and those lines on your photos are the floats from EWP passing by - I have them on mine too when the lights weren't on!

Yes, we are having unseasonably cool weather - heck, we hit 80' F in March and now we're in the mid-50s most of this week! Should be back up to the high 60s, low 70s by the weekend, which is more typical for this time.

Thanks for the EWP confirmation - I had suspected that but wasn't sure. In your photos, even with the lights on, you can see the black streaks from the top of the structures. Mystery definitively solved!

I must have missed where you mentioned using a remote shutter release earlier. Did you also set your camera's focus manually? If your camera has live view, that's a nice way to check focus on a tripod - otherwise just set for infinity and maybe pull back slightly depending on your aperture. Take a test photo and zoom way in to make sure it's getting things sharp (like the castle.) It's hard to tell from your shots but it looks like there might be slighty blur on the castle and I can't tell if it's camera shake, misfocus, an unsharp photo (due to processing and/or jpg resizing), or my imagination.

Looking at your exif data a little more closely... I'm going to say that you also have some overexposure on the castle. Most of your exposure times are pretty long (5 sec, 12 sec, etc) - that's a long time to have the castle in view without it overexposing. You can counter this by a smaller aperture - it looks like you were using F6.3. Most fireworks shooters seem to lean towards F8-F11. This lets you have a longer exposure without blowing out highlights, plus the fireworks themselves will be a little less blown out so you might capture more color... plus you gain depth of field.

 

[hjd0411]

Thanks again Groucho!
I will try again with your tips! I'm so in the learning stage!!! I'll be going to MK one night soon, so will set up early for the fireworks and take some test shots. I did do manual focus but with my eyesight I'm not sure whether it worked well or not..!!!
Hope you warm up soon!!

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Poly is an excellent place to see Wishes!

Tonight you can check Wishes out Live from the Contemporary on this site >

http://kfc.ms/fCq4

Linky no Worky... looks like a classified site...

 

[Golf4food]

Thanks again Groucho!
I will try again with your tips! I'm so in the learning stage!!! I'll be going to MK one night soon, so will set up early for the fireworks and take some test shots. I did do manual focus but with my eyesight I'm not sure whether it worked well or not..!!!
Hope you warm up soon!!

Are you up here for an extended trip, I assume? We leave tomorrow to head down for a long weekend. A little easier to do being 2 hours away instead of an international date line away...

 

[hjd0411]

Are you up here for an extended trip, I assume? We leave tomorrow to head down for a long weekend. A little easier to do being 2 hours away instead of an international date line away...

Yes, I'm afraid that about 20hrs of flying means a longer stay!! Works for me though!! But it just means I have to pack in a lot into this 3 week stay, and not come back for a few years!!!
Have a safe drive!

 

[lovephotography]

Nice shots.