Film

[Harrison]

Translated from another language obviously.

So that sounds like it does the opposite of cameras I've used in the past. With my SLR it unwinds the film as it takes the shots, then when it reaches the end it rewinds the whole lot back into the canister.

[Stephen Coates]

That's what all the cameras I have used do.

I'm just looking forward to getting some film to try with the camera now.

[Stephen Coates]

I got some Fujicolor C200 films to start off with. I read somewhere that it can be quite grainy, but should be fine just for me to mess about with.

Has anyone here ever taken photos of Fireworks? I read that it is quite difficut, but as it is the 5th November soon I thought I'd give it a go. Last time I took pictures of fireworks was a few years ago and they ended up looking a bit strange.

[AlexJ]

Has anyone here ever taken photos of Fireworks? I read that it is quite difficut, but as it is the 5th November soon I thought I'd give it a go. Last time I took pictures of fireworks was a few years ago and they ended up looking a bit strange.

Yeah, they're really fast paced and it's near impossible to convey the sense of actually seeing them. However, I've always found them quite good for getting to know a new camera beyond the simple point-and-shoot in daylight standard shot. Here's a few examples from several years ago that I've no idea why I've kept.

You'll need to use a fairly long exposure time else you'll get something like this:



Smoke is a problem, especially with the air being fairly damp so it's all too easy to end up with something like this:



Oh and of course, make sure the flash doesn't fire otherwise you'll get something like this:



Then really it's luck as to if what you take looks good.

[Harrison]

Some good tips there.

Definitely make sure the flash is completely off or, as that picture shows, it will shorten the depth of field and you won't get the fireworks as the main focus of the image.

And a long exposure time is definitely needed, which works best with a tripod so you don't end up with some camera shake spoiling the image. A free alternative is to find a fence or wall then you can rest your elbows on when you take the shots to steady yourself.

And use a manual focus as any autofocus won't work at night while pointing at the sky. Just set the focus to infinity or the furthest it will go.

[Stephen Coates]

Those ones that you took Alex are better than the ones I did a few years ago.

I'll have ago at taking some photos over the next few years and will post the results.

[Harrison]

Next few years? We will be waiting a long time then.

Did you mean next few days?

[Stephen Coates]

Yes, next few days. There are a couple of big firework displays here. My Dad's away until tuesday though so it's unlikely we'll have any fireworks in the garden.

[AlexJ]

Those ones that you took Alex are better than the ones I did a few years ago.

And they were mostly example of how not to do it!

[Stephen Coates]

Yes, I have seen better ones on various sites on the internet.

Something that is quite odd, is that I took a photo of a big bonfire and coming out of the left hand side were some little things which looked like the letter 'a'.