Dear Libsyn,

I had an account. I kept it open for a while, just in case I ever needed it again and to keep the shows posted somewhere in case anyone ever wanted it again. Then the spam came. And it came and came. Hundreds of messages notifying me that there has been a “New comment to your post”. We all know this is bull crap, and the only person ever seeing these comments is the Google robot. I’m pretty sure that he’s unlikely to purchase WoW gold. Eventually, I sadly cancelled my account hoping that would stop it. It didn’t, and now I can’t even log in to change my settings.

Please… make it stop. I just got 32 email notifications of comments on posts on a blog that hasn’t been active in more than 2 years… in 4 mins. I need you to make it stop. Unhook my email address, delete the posts, nuke the whole thing from orbit, I don’t care, but please for the love of God and small furry creatures, I beg you to make it stop.

Please.

Brian

Lately, it’s become unbearable:

(there are 2 more pages like that one…)

The above email is what I sent them.

Many people have asked how I take my fireworks shots. Rather than respond individually, I thought I’d put together a little bit of a guide.

It’s important to realize that I’m not the originator of ANY of these tips, I’m pretty much a noob myself, but I’ve managed to get a few shots and more importantly gather some lessons learned. At the end of this, I’ve included a list of some resources I’ve found helpful.

The right camera

The first step to taking good shots of fireworks is the right camera. You need one that at a minimum allows you to shoot in manual exposure and focus mode and one that can be secured on a tripod. This unfortunately counts out many point and shoot and cell phone cameras. In addition, you need one with pretty good low light performance. You can get shots with some point and shoots, but I think it would be much harder.

Since I shoot with a Nikon D90, this guide assumes you’re using a DSLR, but you might be able to get your point and shoot to do the same things.

I think you should be pretty good even with inexpensive DSLR cameras, such as the D40 or some of the fixed-lens “Psuedo-DSLR” cameras. Obviously, as with many things, higher quality sensors will give you more range and flexibility, but you can get some pretty nice shots even with the less expensive sensors, so don’t let that deter you.

Finally on this, what’s really important is that the best camera is the one that you have with you, so even if all you have is a point and shoot, now’s a great time to figure out how to work all the settings and give it a shot!

Things you need to bring

• Camera (Well, duh.) Maybe more than one
• Charged camera battery
• Lenses (You can never be sure of exactly where you’ll set up, so bring a wide angle and a decent zoom)
• Tripod and mounting shoe (I had my whole kit except for the mounting shoe for the tripod, so I wound up using a bungee to mount the camera… I would not recommend it)
• Remote release device (with a fresh battery)
• Pocket flash light with fresh batteries
• Clear memory cards (at least 2, just in case)
• Lens cloth and blower

Camera Stability

Tripod

You’ll be making exposures that are MUCH longer than you’re used to, so keeping your camera still is essential. There is simply no way you can keep your camera still long enough to get clean exposures without a tripod, and the heavier, the better.

You might be able to get away with one of the Joby Gorilla Pods, depending on your camera and the location, but a real tripod is going to be better.

Here’s a shot I took with a 2.5 second exposure. Neat effect, but not what you’re going for, most likely.

Remote

One other thing to think about with camera stability is the use of a remote release. It might not seem like it but your camera moves when you press the shutter release even just a little. Check out this shot. See the squiggles at the start of the trails? That’s me pressing the shutter release button.

Most DSLRs have an optional remote release, often it is infrared. Use these. =)

Mode

I think you pretty much have to have your camera in full manual mode. You’re going to be telling your camera to do things that it doesn’t expect, such as using a narrower aperture when you have a very little bit of light.

Obviously, you’ve got no need for any sort of flash, so don’t bother.

Exposure

The hardest part about photographing fireworks is that the exposure settings are (to a novice like me) unexpected. One thinks of fireworks as the ultimate low light photography event, so you would expect to use wide apertures, long exposures and high ISO settings. With the exception of the exposure, that’s completely backwards.

ISO

One of the first things to set up on your camera (once you’re in manual mode) is the ISO setting. You want it to be low. I shot mine on 100 and 200 ISO. That’s right, the same ISO you’d use for daylight shooting. The lower ISO will limit the noise in the shot and since some of the post processing we might consider can emphasize luma noise, we want to reduce that.

Aperture

Fireworks are big, so we want a pretty nice depth of field. I’ve heard suggestions from F8 up to F20, though I think (and have found) that F11-F16 is a pretty good range.

Shutter Speed

Here’s where your common sense will prevail. You want a nice shutter speed to capture the long trails and blooms of the fireworks.

I like to use the camera on the “bulb” setting, which essentially opens the shutter when I press the release once, then closes it when I press it again. That way, I can control the exposure for each shot and not worry about it shutting off too soon or staying open too long. It’s a “Play with it and see” sort of thing.

One neat trick is to get a (non-reflective) piece of cardboard (paint it black if you can, but as long as it’s not white or glossy, you’re good) and hold that over the lens. Then open the shutter and manually expose the shot multiple times. You can get some neat effects.

Don’t over expose

One thing to remember is don’t keep it open TOO long. A few seconds is enough, especially during busy times like the finale. You will only be adding light to exposed areas and making a big white mess on your shot.

Focus

In addition to having the exposure on manual, you’ll want your focus on manual also. A good practice is to pre focus before it gets dark. You want to focus on the skyline or tree line and then not change it. Focus is important because once you take the shot you can’t go back.

Here’s one where I misjudged the focus. I took about twenty shots before I reviewed them and realized I was out of focus. Tighter apertures will help with focus, but not as much as pre-focusing and reviewing your focus (yay for LCDs!) after a few shots.

Which Lens to use

Mostly here, we’re talking about focal length. I like shooting with my 55-200mm, because it allows me a reasonably wide view while still getting in close for some tight shots if I like. Alternately, if you’re very close to the show, you might wish a wider view. Just remember, with fireworks there’s often no visual clues to combat lens distortion, so if you get too wide, the distortion might be distracting. (It might also be artistic, so go for it!)

Composition

Where to set up

You want to be close to the action, but not so close that you lose the ability to shoot the whole scene. Often, the best spots are where people gather to watch.

Try not to be in front of or behind anyone. Remember that your tripod is likely going to be as tall as an adult standing up and most people like to sit or lie on the ground to watch the show. Off to the side is good, because you won’t have worry about being in someone’s way. You can also get reaction shots, if you do it right. =)

Skyline

In addition to not getting people in your shot (unless that’s your goal), consider what else might be in the shot. Are there buildings or trees or mountains in the background. If you will be doing long exposures, you very well might get enough reflected light on the buildings and environment that it can show up, and that makes for a very cool effect.

Crop & aspect

Wide sky shots of fireworks are very striking, but remember that the best photographs are ones where the photographer exposes you to something you otherwise wouldn’t have seen or changes the context. Context can be the aspect of the shot (vertical tends to imply upward movement and height, while horizontal can suggest a grand expanse),it can also simply be how tightly cropped a shot is.

Don’t forget you can change aspect and crop in the computer later, so it’s more important just to get the shot in the first place and play with it later.

Here are some examples. The first shot is the one that came out of the camera.

Second is the shot cropped with a vertical aspect, which has more motion and drama.

Third is the same shot cropped and offset. This would make a good postcard or poster.

Other things in the shot

Finally, think about showing things other than the fireworks themselves. Remember, you’re trying to show the viewer something they might not otherwise have seen. Maybe it’s the cityscape lit by the glow of the fireworks, or perhaps it’s the crowd in silhouette.

Shoot a LOT (Digital is free)

Remember, there’s no cost for messing up so take a LOT of shots. You can always delete the bad ones and pretend they never happened.

Things to think about

Wind & Smoke

If there’s no wind at all, the smoke from the fireworks is going to hang in the air. That means your best shots will likely be near the beginning of the show, so be ready for them.

Similarly, if there’s too much wind, you will find that the explosions look lopsided. If there’s really too much, they might cancel it all together, so again, just be prepared for anything.

Timing/Trails

This is something that can take practice, but in general you want to catch the shots just as they explode and stream outward. This allows the trails to be long and graceful.

Color

One of the best things about fireworks is they produce such vivid colors, Your best shots will often be of the bright blues and pinks, and sometimes the sparkling golds. Some of the best shots I’ve seen have one dominant color with other complimentary colors supporting it.

Post Processing

Remember that once you get the images out of the computer, you can crop and color correct to your hearts content. Just remember the #1 rule of digital image manipulation: WORK FROM A COPY!

You may find you need to reduce noise. If you shot with a low ISO, that’s not as much of a problem, but one easy way to do this is to actually lower the exposure. You’ll darken the image, but in so doing, you’ll reduce the noise. Of course many image programs can reduce noise as well.

Try to lighten the sky some so that the fireworks seem like they are at dusk rather than full night.

Color correct so that the colors are brighter and more saturated for a more electric feel.

Try reducing the saturation of all but the strongest color for a neat effect.

And don’t forget to adjust crop and aspect for the right shot.

Finally

Have fun and play around. Unless you’re counting on these shots to feed you (and seriously, don’t do that…) it’s more important that you enjoy yourself and learn from the experience than that you do it perfectly. And don’t forget to share your shots and pass on the knowledge you gain. Next year, you can teach others how to do it!

-Brian

Other Resources

Here are some websites I’ve used to learn from:

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=303639&src=1 (Neat tips on using a P&S camera!)

http://photo2.si.edu/firew/firew.html (This one has great discussion of positioning)

So here goes:

Content, Content, Content

First thing to know is that it’s all about content. You need to have something to say. Even if you’re going to be a “personality” show (and the best ones are) you still need SOMETHING to talk about. So are you going to cover current events? Tech? Gaming? Entertainment? Pick a subject. Understand that in this day and age, you probably don’t actually have news that no one has heard before, so you should consider commenting or providing personal experience or opinion.

Format

Once you have a topic, decide on a format. Are you going to have news, then music, then a discussion? How are you going to lay it out.

Solo vs. Discussion

The most important thing to decide is are you doing a solo show or working with others? Personally, I think most of the best shows are discussions, and from personal experience they are about 954,000 times easier to produce than solo monologues. Solo shows can take a very long time to prepare and are generally harder to record. Discussion prep can be as simple as “We’re gonna talk about this…” then turn on the recording and go for it.

If you’re going with a discussion, how many will there be? Who will you be working with? Etc.

Local vs. Remote

Next, you need to know if the participants in your show will be local (in the same room) or remote (usually over the internet). This is really important, because it drastically changes your set up. If you need more than one local microphone, you most likely need an external audio interface. More than two and you need a fancier one, and so on.

Remote means you need to make sure everyone has Skype and a decent mic on their end.

Hardware

Mics

A good rule of thumb is that if you’ve never thought about it before, your mic isn’t good enough. If you have ever bought a mic with quality in mind, it’s probably good enough to start with.

Better USB headsets are decent, but cheap ones are not. Here’s a test: Fire up a recording program (Sound Recorder comes with Windows and is easy). Talk normally into the mic, then breath heavily, laugh and shake your head from side to side. Play back the audio. If you can hear the breathing or head lots of noise when you move your head, but a new one. We just bought a Plantronics GameCom 777 USB which is a decent headset.

If you really want a “real” mic, you should look for a speech mic. If you go to Guitar Center or a music shop and ask for a vocal mic, they’ll sell you one designed for singing. These are good, but not the best. You can spend less money and buy a better mic. Tell them you want a mic for speech or spoken word. You also want (especially if you’re a male) a large diaphragm mic. These have a larger element (usually 1” or more) and the bigger diaphragm captures the nice warm low tones in male voices.
The thing to think about here is is the mic “Dynamic” or “Condenser”. A condenser mic requires what’s called “phantom power” or power on the cable in order to run, so your interface needs to be able to supply that power. A Dynamic mic does not require that and so theoretically could be plugged in to any input that accepts “Mic Level” signal.

Finally, if you buy an external “real” mic, it will most likely come with an XLR connection, which is a “Mic Cable” with three pins. You can’t just plug that into your PC, you need some sort of interface. M-Audio makes some inexpensive, so does Presonus. They connect over Firewire or USB and often come with editing software.

Software

Skype

If you’re working remotely, everyone should have downloaded and installed and tested Skype. This is a pretty good VoIP software that many podcasters use. Some even use it for video podcasting.

Recording

You also need recording software. On the free side, you have Audacity or Garageband (Mac only). You also might have gotten editing software with the interface you bought. Cubase is a common one.

The actual process you use will depend on how you’re recording.

It’s important to note that there are a couple of ways to record Skype, and this might be the most complicated part of the setup. The easiest is to simply find one of the bazillion programs that will record Skype conversations. The problem is that most of them will record BOTH SIDES of the conversation into one file. This can be an issue because normally you want separation of your speakers. In case one person coughs while another is speaking, you can mute the cough and not change the other person at all. If you won’t care about editing it later, use what you like.
Some people run Skype on a second computer and pipe the output into their audio interface on a second channel. That works well also.

Finally, there are programs that can route audio internally and let you send Skype to a recording program. There’s one for PC called (I think) “Virtual Audio Cables”. Personally, on the Mac I use a combination of Audio Hijack Pro (from Rogue Amoeba) and Soundflower (free). I do this so I can get a little fancy and inject audio from iTunes, a web browser, even a soundboard into the audio stream which I send both to the recording as well as the people on the other side of the Skype Audio.

Before I explain the next bit, you need to know that installing Soundflower basically creates two “Fake” audio devices on your computer. SF2 is a 2 channel device and SF16 is a 16 chan device. You can send audio to them like you would any device and they output just like other devices.

Audio Hijack Pro (AHP) lets me create a path for the audio to follow (and record from) and I have 2 of them:

Podcast Local: Starts off with getting the audio from my interface, which is basically just my microphone. It then uses Audio Hijack Pro’s effects rack to bring in sound from iTunes, SoundByte, and Safari into the stream. Now we have my voice and the other local Audio sources. Then I use the channel tweaker effect in AHP make the stereo signal there a mono signal (merge the left and right) and I run it through an amplifier and a simple voice EQ effect. Finally, I send the stream to the SF2 virtual device and back to the Presonus (so I can hear the stream in my headphones for monitoring.)
Podcast Remote: Starts with the SF16 device as an input, and sends the audio stream to the Presonus so I can hear it. It’s a pretty simple chain compared to Podcast Local.

Lastly, I have Skype setup with the input device of SF2 (which is, if you recall, the Podcast Local audio) and the output as SF16 (which starts the Podcast Remote chain).

AHP records both Podcast Local and Podcast Remote, which I then mix together in Cubase. All I have to do is align the audio and it’s good to go.

Editing

I like to try to NOT edit my shows. A perfectionist can always find something to fix, and honestly, editing is the part I like least, so unless there is a HUGE problem, we go in one take with no edits. What you hear on TechChatter and Friendly Fire is what we recorded in real time.

As I said, I use Cubase. I used to use Garageband, which is free with Macs. Audacity is free and multiplatform from SourceForge, but I’ve had stability problems in the past so I’m gun shy.

My absolute favorite software for audio editing is actually Adobe Audition, which isn’t available for the Mac, and this annoys me no end.

Mix Down

Once you’ve edited the show, including putting your bumper music in etc, you will need to mix it down. Most audio programs will let you export mp3. I don’t have the time to go into concepts like audio compression (which is different from file compression) here, but you might consider mixing down to a .wav file and dropping that into a program called Levelator, which you can get online for free (google it). This will even out the “loudness” between people and sounds and make it more listenable.

That’s the production side of things. There’s plenty more I can go into specifically if you have questions… just let me know!

FCS had been using a hosted solution from a national provider. By working with Mint Condition Studios, FCS moved to hosting they control and have superb access. FCS can now host a variety of applications and multimedia content.

Ease of use was crucial to FCS, so we designed a site based on the open-source Drupal content management system. Now, they can manage their own content using a WYSIWYG editor from any browser. They can have dozens of authorized users maintaining hundreds of pages of content, stories, photos, videos, and many other functions.

Dynamic data means that they are able to integrate internet based calendars so that parents and students can subscribe to events in any standard calendar program.

Finally, the site was designed to be graphically inviting, and Mint Condition customized the themes so that modifying the graphics found throughout the site couldn’t be simpler. Just like the text editor, changing images is very simple and can be done from any browser.

Visit Fredericksburg Christian Schools at http://www.fredericksburgchristian.com.

A CD for a local singer. We did all recording, editing and mastering for this independently produced mini album. We even created the album artwork. We can’t take credit for the amazing voice, however. Excerpts below.

Rest – Stephanie Messa (Excerpt)
Who is Like Our God
Oh Lover of Mine
A Little While

Encountering God Gathering -- a “commercial” spot for Grace Church of Fredericksburg’s Encountering God Gatherings. Again, given very little direction, the driving force for this work was the concept of “ignition” or “explosion”. Unlike some of our videos, this video uses no thrid party plugin effects, using only a standard install of Adobe After Effects.

This small AV company, based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, contracted with MCS to design a light-weight site that they could maintain themselves.

Working with their existing web host, MCS designed and implemented a custom site based on the WordPress content management system, allowing ICS to manage their own posts and pages using a simple to understand web interface.