>>> On Mon, 14 Jul 2003 20:08:15 -0500, "John A. Lind" <jlind@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> said:
jal> I haven't deliberately underexposed Provia, so my thought was
jal> using f/11 for ISO 100 film versus the f/8 aperture I've used
jal> successfully in the past may have caused or contributed to the
jal> red shift. Otherwise, Johnnie has some decent fireworks shots
jal> and much better than the vast majority do the first time out.
Well, it wasn't an intentional underexposure. I actually had a
printout of your email giving the exposure setting for each film
speed. Unfortunately, when I was gathering all my gear for the trek
from the car to our spot up by the stage, the printout ended up on the
back seat of my car. And since we were down relatively close to the
stage, I chose to guess rather than navigate that sea of people
(150,000 to 180,000 people) for a return trip to the car. At least my
guess was close. I think "f/8 - ISO 100" is probably burned into my
brain now.
jal> The challenge with fireworks is the usual proximity to an urban
jal> area with its attendant light pollution . . . even a mile or so
jal> near a medium city is enough to destroy "dark sky" . . . along
jal> with smoke that builds up as the show progresses. If there's
jal> very calm air the smoke can become severe. July 4th
jal> celebrations can also suffer from high heat and humidity that
jal> adds a "heat haze." It all conspires to leave the sky something
jal> less than deep black.
This was probably a perfect setup as far as light pollution is
concerned. The event was held at Southfork Ranch (anybody remember
"Dallas"), which is east of Plano, a bit away from the bright lights
of the Metroplex. And I was shooting with my back to almost any light
source. Smoke was the real problem I ran into. Most of the shots have
at least a little "smoke smear" to them. But I think the wind was
perfect, enough to blow the smoke away without distorting the bursts
too much. There was almost no gap between launches. For most of the
show I only had the shutter closed long enough to advance the film.
And the bursts were huge. I was glad I had the 24/2.8 with me (thanks
Tom, great lens!), I needed the wide angle for some of the bursts.
Thank you John and Jan and everybody else that gave me all the great
tips on how to shoot fireworks. I can't wait for another chance to
take what I learned this time and get some better results. I do know
for a fact that if I had gone out there without the tips I got here,
only me and the guy at the lab would have ever seen those shots, they
would have gone straight into the trash. It would have been a total
waste of effort.
Johnie
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