Help I'm in Disney and confused!

[tlcmommyx4]

I tryed last night to shoot the magic and memories light show and everything is so noisy. I was wondering if anyone had shot this, and could help me with some settings. I was on M mode with bulb as my shutter speed and infinity, oh and 3200 ISO. I tryed M mode with some fast shutter speed and 3200 ISO and not very great results. I am going to try again tonight, I will check again and see if you have any advice. Thanks so much!

 

[JoeDif]

What camera are you using? ISO 3200 can give you some very noisy images, depending on camera, sensor, etc., especially when shot during the night where you will have a lot dark areas in your frame.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

I'm sorry I am using a Canon T1i, but I was think that maybe I could lower the ISO. I think that I had it that high when I was trying to use different setting modes. I can try again tonight with lower ISO, what do you think of my other settings? The lights move so fast that I really thought that I would need to be on TV mode, but just not enough light. Thanks for looking.

Here are two examples

One has been thru LR for about 1 min of post processing trying to get the noise down

 

[VVFF]

If there is no reason that you are trying to increase the exposure time, lower the aperture and lower ISO. Shooting at F22 is definitely not the way to go about things unless you have no other way to get a longer shutter speed for fireworks. For the shots you posted here you could get the same result shooting at F5.6 and ISO200 as F5.6 is about 4 stops "faster" than F22. You will also get sharper images using F5.6.

I haven't seen this show before but assuming the pictures are moving I'd want to get the shutter speed a little faster as well so I would probably try to use ISO400, F4.0 .5 sec exposure.

If the images are stationary then you could again lower the ISO and use a 1 sec exposure at F4 or 2 second exposure at F5.6

 

[zackiedawg]

Wow, yeah - I'd have to agree - go completely the other way on the aperture as F22 at night is simply not what you need when you are trying to get a faster shutter speed. I can't think of any reason you couldn't shoot even wide open apertures - with a 30mm focal range from that distance, there won't be any issues with depth of field - I've shot the castle handheld with a 30mm lens on APS-C sensor at F1.8 and had everything in razor-sharp focus.

If you use your biggest aperture (dont' know what lens you were using, but assuming kit lens you should be able to get F4.5-5.6ish. With ISO200, 400, or even 800, you'll get a lot less noise, and can still pull off shutter speeds of a second or so to capture the quick light displays. Also, just to be sure - were you using a tripod? Your 2-second shutter speeds are awfully slow for handheld, so I'm assuming yes - but that is another obvious suggestion if not....and when shooting short exposures like that - 1-2 seconds - mirror vibration can very much come into play, so I'd recommend taking those shots on a tripod with mirror-lock-up engaged.

I think I'd try Tv setting at 1 second, let the camera choose wide-open aperture and use Auto ISO - see what ISO the camera picks. If the camera tries a higher ISO and a slightly smaller aperture, then take that setting as a baseline, switch to manual mode, and set the aperture to wide open and lower the ISO by the same number of stops as the aperture you adjusted.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

Thank you so much. I did have it on a tri pod. I will try it with my nifty fifty tonight and see if I can better results. Sorry such choppy response I anon my cell phone at the magic kingdom . Wish me luck!

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

So what do you think of the show? I've seen some youtube videos and it looks really nice. But I imagine it would be better in person.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

Thank you Justin, I think that these came out a little better. I was on TV mode and auto ISO with a tripod and a cable release so no shake. I am much happer than last night, but I ended up using my canon 28-135 instead of my nifty fifty, because I would have had to go back futher than the hub to fit the whole castle.
The one thing I wasen't sure of is that at times my shutter release cable would not let me take the shot. I'm not sure if it was having trouble finding something to focus on is my guess. I should have had it on MF maybe.
This is really the most amazing show and I will go back on Sunday to try one last time to improve on tonights, but please tell me what you think.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

I like! Good job.

 

[zackiedawg]

Very nice - much better! I like the shots, and I also have to give kudos to Disney as I like what I'm seeing of the light display...I look forward to seeing it in person.

If you were using a wired cable release, I know sometimes the connections can be loose - even the tiniest connection issue can cause it to hang sometimes trying to take a shot. I've had it on mine before, where I plugged it in a little tighter or wiggled it around a bit and it seated in much better and then no issues.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

I like! Good job.

Very nice - much better! I like the shots, and I also have to give kudos to Disney as I like what I'm seeing of the light display...I look forward to seeing it in person.

Thank you both
I am going back my last night on Sunday and try one more time to get some that I missed with my cable release snafu. This really is one of the best shows I have seen in a long time!

 

[mom2rtk]

Great job Michelle! I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and can't wait to see what else you come back with!