Photo settings for night events at DL

[mindylou2]

We are taking our very first trip to Disney Land next week. I love photography, but am very much an amateur. Could anyone provide me with some tips on camera settings for some of the night time shows, such as World of Color and the fireworks? FYI-I shoot with a Canon 50D. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[havoc315]

Fireworks are all about long exposure on a tripod.
Set the camera on the tripod...
Set the ISO at 100.
Manually focus to infinity or just short of infinity.
Use a remote shutter release, or times shutter release. (you dont want vibration from pressing down on the shutter yourself).
Set for a small aperture and long shutter --- At least a 6-7 second burst, to get nice long fireworks trails and fill the sky.
With a small enough aperture and/or use of ND filters, you can go really long... 30 second exposures for fireworks.

Borrowing an example from Tom Bricker:

Disney's HalloWishes Fireworks...Shot with a Canon?! by Tom.Bricker, on Flickr

And a less extreme example from my own library:

Epcot Illuminations by Havoc315, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

Google Tom Bricker's photo blog. He discusses WOC and Fantasmic.