Tag Archives: night

Happy New Year 2014!

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New Year's Eve 2014 Fireworks at KLCC

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f22, 10.56 sec (for pic above).

Fireworks Photography Tip 1: Juxtapose the fireworks against a landmark or skyline. A shot of fireworks alone in the sky, however nice, doesn’t say much. It could have been photographed in any city.

Fireworks Photography Tip 2: Use a speed slower than 2 seconds to maximise the flowing effect of the burst and to better capture the sparkle. It means you will need a tripod.

For users of recent Olympus cameras, just set it to Live Time in Bulb mode and watch the exposure develop on the LCD screen. Stop when you feel it is nice enough. This takes the guesswork out of shooting blind in B manual mode.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f22, 6.46 sec (for pic below).

Tips On Shooting Fireworks Photos Like A Pro

Fireworks Photography Tip 3: Get your act together as fast as possible. The view gets progressively smoky after the first or second minute. After that, lingering smoke usually gets too heavy and may obscure the landmark or the fireworks itself. The smoke will also create a colour cast.

And one most important tip: Once you get your settings correct, just fire away but alternately look at the sky. Take in the beauty with your naked eyes directly, not by viewing through a viewfinder or LCD throughout. In this case, I had no choice but to look up. I was so near the epicentre that chunks of burning sulphur and hot ash were landing few inches away.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f16, 3.58 sec (for pic below).

How To Photograph Fireworks

Happy Malaysia Day!

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It’s Malaysia Day Eve. Go shoot some fireworks at the ongoing Putrajaya International Fireworks Competition at midnight.

Photography Tip: Use a a relatively long exposure to capture the long and flowing light trails. Also, as I always emphasise, find a landmark to juxtapose, if practical. Fireworks are attractive by itself, so there is the temptation to point up and isolate the bursts alone. It is nice but meaningless when you look at it years later. A black sky is the same, anywhere in the world. So go early, find ‘ground zero’ and scout around for a view that includes an interesting background. It won’t be easy at Putrajaya as there are few buildings around the launch site. If you can’t find a suitable background, try to include the lake and the reflections off the water.

Long exposures are easy with the OM-D’s Live Time and Live Bulb mode. Just press the shutter and watch the exposure build up on the LCD screen in real time. Stop when you see a perfect exposure. It was raining last night when I photographed this display from Team China. My assistant held an umbrella while I wiped the lens after each shot when the camera processed and wrote the file.

Happy 50th Malaysia Day on September 16th.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f18, 4.58 sec.

Putrajaya International Fireworks Competition

Ambience

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As you know, fine dining isn’t about taste or service alone; is also about ambience. Hundreds of candles light up the Theatre of Cuisines during MIGF’s Gala Night. In the centre, a Latin band plays The Girl From Ipanema, adding to the magical ambience. Salsa your way there today, as there is still time to sample all the food from participating restaurants.

Malaysia International Gourmet Festival. See www.migf.com for details.

Photography Notes: It was not too long ago, that camera manufacturers advertised shooting under candlelight as a special feature. Today, we do it without batting an eyelid. Better sensitivity and image stabilisation makes it easy. Only thing to watch out for; is the white balance. The camera might automatically over-correct the warm colours. If it does, go to your White Balance settings and try the various presets. Keep it warm to preserve the ambience. Yes. If you want to sound snooty, say ambiance.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 2000, f3.7, 1/30 sec.

Ambience - MIGF Gala Night