Skip to main content

Rocket Firework Photography

Everybody loves the firework & I love to shoot the firework! I especially love to shoot the Rocket firework.

A rocket is a pyrotechnic device made out of a paper tube that propels itself into the air in order to fly. Types of rockets include the skyrockets, which have a stick to provide stability during airborne flight; missiles, which rotate rather than having a stick for stability, or are shot out of a tube; and bottle rockets, smaller fireworks – 1½ in (3.8 cm) long, though the attached stick extends the total length to approximately 12 in (30 cm) – that usually contain whistle effects... From Wikepedia




Here are some of the tips about shooting these kind of photograph. You need a tripod without that it is not possible to shoot these images. Framing should be vertical as the subject is.

1. By taking precautions we will ensure that it will go upwards but it is difficult to know what path it will follow. I use wide angle lens for this. Currently I don't have a lens much wider than 18mm. Using telephoto lens for capturing the abstract of firework may also give nice shots.

2. I place the rocket in a bottle on a surface area with substantial height while placing my camera on a tripod at lower height than the rocket. Take precaution for keeping your camera at safe distance since sometimes the nasty rocket may explode instead of giving a visual treat to your eyes.

3. Use low ISO for avoiding any noise & artifacts.

4. Shooting in manual mode is preferable. Use the aperture & shutter speed settings as given below.

5. Use Aperture in the range of f/8 to f/16 since these objects emit light with high brightness.I also use polarizer for avoiding overexposed shots.

6. This is most important setting. I use shutter speed in the range of 5-10 seconds. I keep the camera in timer mode & press the shutter button just before igniting the rocket. The complete event may take around 2-3 seconds but the long duration will help me to keep further away from camera after pressing the shutter button. If you have a remote cable release you can do it in better way by putting the camera in bulb mode & ending the capture after completion of the event.

7. Focusing is a bit tricky. I use manual focus & by using torch I keep focus on the rocket before taking the actual shot. My 18-55 doesn't have marking of infinity. If you have it then keep it on that.

8. Tweak with your settings after observing the results of your trial shots.

Hope you find this article useful & keep on shooting :)



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Paper Abstract Photography

     D ear friends finally I am able to take some time for sharing the behind the scene secrets on paper abstract work with you all. I hope you will enjoy it & ignore the delayed publication of this article. How it all started ?      I love to shoot all subjects which attracts me irrespective of what it is ! I have not yet restricted myself to any specific genre in the photography. I am not a professional photographer & can only utilize my weekends/holidays time for the hobby. Considering my small kid "Manas" which is now around 15 months old I had to restrict my freedom for shooting outdoor on weekends. This focused my attention to family portraits, still life & abstracts. Image 1 : Motion : This shot was taken to convey the feel of motion using still life. During taking this shot f or getting the movements of paper I allowed to move the end of papers with the help of ceiling fan. The the...

BPOY 2011

I am really excited to share with you all that I was selected as category winner for Still Life: The obvious Things in the annual photo contest conducted by India's leading photography Magazine "Better photography". My attached image Paper Swan was selected as winner in the still life. In the category "Joy of color" another image "Rainbow Twirl" was nominated in final 6 whereas "Paper Waveform was shortlisted in top 20 images. It was overwhelming to see my work on paper abstract being appreciated so highly especially considering around 70,000 entries from all over India. The eight category winners were invited to Mumbai & were offered the challenge to photo shoot in Mumbai on the theme of "Spirit of Mumbai". I was supposed to shoot for 4 days & submit 10 individual images & 8-12 images in series for photo essay. Though I didn't able to turn that for grabbing overall winner award among 8 I was hap...

My Trip to Darjeeling

As some of you know from my recent photographs & notes I recently had a short trip to North East India. I visited Darjeeling,Gangtok & Pelling. I also visited Changu lake near to Gangtok.   Image 1 :Taken from the flight while traveling from Delhi to Bagdogra. We started our journey on 26th of February  from Indore. We had a flight of Indian Airlines from Indore to Delhi in the morning & then a connecting flight from Delhi to Bagdogra. From Bagdogra we hired a taxi for Darjeeling & reached there in evening. Note: Try to hire a taxi on your own from Bagdogra air port since we have observed the pre-paid taxi payer is taking some commission & which may cost you a little more. Similarly  hiring a taxi for local site seeing on without reference of hotel manager may cost you less but sometimes it's unavoidable if they offer you nice service & you want to save time & headache in bargaining with the taxi drivers :) Darjeeling: Darjeeling is ...