Better Pictures

Fireworks Photography – Where to Photograph – July 4, 2013

John Tworsky

Where to photograph fireworks – these links will be updates as we get closer to July 4th.
North Jersey’s parade, firework and celebration map
List of North Jersey fireworks, times and dates

Here are some basic starting points

If you have any questions, stop by the store, email or call. We’re here to help. Please let us know if you get some great shots we’d love to see!
Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. Have a great 4th of July Holiday weekend from all of us at BCC.

Find a fireworks display on NorthJersey.com’s 4th of July celebrations page.

Tripod
Electronic release (available for most cameras at BCC) or 2 second self timer to eliminate the motion caused by pressing the shutter button.
Manually set your camera ISO to 100 (You do not want Auto ISO)
Lens Choice – Wide Angle Zoom to frame what you’d like to capture
Auto White Balance or Daylight
Set your lens to manual focus then focus to infinity (take a test image and make sure things are sharp)
Set your camera to Manual exposure – Try 5 seconds at f/ 16
Carefully release the shutter if not using a release to capture from one to several bursts
Evaluate your exposure – Shorter exposures (or smaller apertures ) will darken the image and capture shorter trails, Longer exposures (or larger apertures ) will lighten the image and capture longer trails.
Evaluate sharpness by zooming in on your image – adjust as needed

If you are using a point a shoot, check your camera’s manual for fireworks mode.

Improving Fireworks photos
Shoot with a tripod – it will give a more natural cascade of light

Shooting the Finale!
The finale is many times brighter than rest of the show. Be ready to choose a shorter exposure or smaller aperture to prevent overexposure. The exposure you need is dependent on the number of simultaneous bursts. In some really incredible finales I’ve found myself shooting at 1/4 or 1/8th of a second. Experiment for best results.

Why use a tripod?

Hand-held image above shows motion from camera shake in the burst of light.

The image below is steadied by a tripod, 5 seconds, f16 at 100 ISO

Other Techniques
Set your camera to B and lock open your shutter – keep the lens covered with a dark hat and remove the hat to capture a burst then recover and repeat to capture several bursts. Just be careful not to bump your camera.
You can even zoom the lens during exposure for some interesting effects

Experiment and best of all have fun

Gallery images below shot mainly at 5 seconds, f16 at 100 ISO

A Collection of Holiday Photo Tips

John Tworsky
Rockefeller Center Tree with point and shoot digital
Rock Center Tree – Gerri Facchine

Winter Photography – Free Focus Session in Westwood December 29 at 9:30 am. Focus Sessions take place almost every Saturday at 9:30 am at our Westwood location and are open to everyone – bring a friend! Our Englewood location hosts a Q&A every Saturday at 10:30 just bring your photography or imaging based question.

Below is a collection of blog posts related to the holidays and winter picture taking to hopefully inspire and provide some helpful tips. Please email, call or stop in if you have any questions about photography we’re here to help. In addition to a weekly Free Focus Sessions, we offer a range of photography and imaging classes on a variety of topics.

Holiday Picture Taking Challengers

Winter Digital Camera Tips

Holiday Lights

Holiday Stuffing – Steady Shots

Snow – Photographing Winters Majesty

Winter Shooting Tips – How to get White Snow

Holiday Lights - Christmas Boat Parade
Photo – BCC Guest Blogger Franklin Viola

 

 

 

 

Holiday Lights

Franklin Viola

Holiday Lights - Christmas Boat Parade

Whether you are home for the Holidays or on the road with the Griswolds, the splendor of “Light” is everywhere.

Open up the exposure compensation on your camera +0.7 to +1.3 and use selective focusing to compose your favorite Holiday Illumination. Don’t forget your tripod when capturing lights at night!

And ya better not cry.

Ya better not pout.

Don’t be scared.

YES, you can dip your captured pixels into a digital processing program to further enhance ‘your’ vision.

Holiday Lights - Rockewell Winter

Not sure how?

Come by any Bergen County Camera location with any questions you have, or stop by our Westwood Store for a Free Saturday Focus Session on a host of subjects almost every Saturday. Don’t miss December 29th’s Free Focus Session – Winter Shooting starting at 9:30 am.

Want more?

Call or email BCC’s Abby Passman for a private or group session on Digital Photo Processing!

Last, while the Lights will be bright, the mercury may dip.

Keep a spare camera battery in your jacket pocket (warmer next to ‘you’ than in a bag or case) so that the joy of capturing pixels will not freeze up.

Please feel free to share your comments!
Happy Holidays!

Holiday Stuffing – Steady Shots

Franklin Viola

Where did the time go?!

The holidays are upon us with families and friends gathering to share good food, warm cheer and the passing of another year.

Regardless of the camera you use (hi-tech D-SLR, point&shoot or cell phone), preserving those smiles is a “gift” for generations to share.

This year instead of balancing the camera on a random stack of books or precariously atop the sofa arm, “steady” the capture of your special memories with a small table-top tripod.

Not only will a small table-top tripod allow you to better frame your image, it will also make your photos more sharp when you press the timer button and race around to take your place!

Holiday Stuffing Blog post by Franklin Viola

From the Promaster T3 Mini and T5 Macro Mini Tripods, to Joby’s Gorillapod, the Manfrotto MP3-D01 Pocket Support and Vanguard’s VS-86 Table-Top Tripod, Bergen County Camera has the perfect stocking stuffer for the ‘designated’ photographer in your family!

Landscape Photography Tip Videos

John Tworsky


Our latest series of tip videos is now complete. In this latest video Alan Schwab discusses some accessory items to improve your Landscape Photography.

Video 1 – Lens Hoods
Video 2 – Circular Polarizers
Video 3 – Tripods

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome and appreciated.

Outdoor Lighting Tip Videos

John Tworsky

In this three part series, Bergen County Camera’s Paul Carretta talks about using reflectors and diffusers to enhance the lighting in outdoor situations.

In the first video, Paul discusses how to add extra natural light in an outdoor setting using a 41″ Promaster reflector.

Next, Paul shows us how to use a diffuser to reduce the amount of harsh shadows on a subject.

Lastly, Paul demonstrates how one can use a silver reflector to amplify sunlight.

Fireworks Photography Tips – July 2012

John Tworsky

Where to photograph fireworks
North Jersey’s parade, firework and celebration map

Here are some basic starting points

If you have any questions, stop by the store, email or call. We’re here to help. Please let us know if you get some great shots we’d love to see!
Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. Have a great 4th of July Holiday weekend from all of us at BCC.

Find a fireworks display on NorthJersey.com’s 4th of July celebrations page.

Tripod
Electronic release (available for most cameras at BCC) or 2 second self timer to eliminate the motion caused by pressing the shutter button.
Manually set your camera ISO to 100 (You do not want Auto ISO)
Lens Choice – Wide Angle Zoom to frame what you’d like to capture
Auto White Balance or Daylight
Set your lens to manual focus then focus to infinity (take a test image and make sure things are sharp)
Set your camera to Manual exposure – Try 5 seconds at f/ 16
Carefully release the shutter if not using a release to capture from one to several bursts
Evaluate your exposure – Shorter exposures (or smaller apertures ) will darken the image and capture shorter trails, Longer exposures (or larger apertures ) will lighten the image and capture longer trails.
Evaluate sharpness by zooming in on your image – adjust as needed

If you are using a point a shoot, check your camera’s manual for fireworks mode.

Improving Fireworks photos
Shoot with a tripod – it will give a more natural cascade of light

Shooting the Finale!
The finale is many times brighter than rest of the show. Be ready to choose a shorter exposure or smaller aperture to prevent overexposure. The exposure you need is dependent on the number of simultaneous bursts. In some really incredible finales I’ve found myself shooting at 1/4 or 1/8th of a second. Experiment for best results.

Why use a tripod?

Hand-held image above shows motion from camera shake in the burst of light.

The image below is steadied by a tripod, 5 seconds, f16 at 100 ISO

Other Techniques
Set your camera to B and lock open your shutter – keep the lens covered with a dark hat and remove the hat to capture a burst then recover and repeat to capture several bursts. Just be careful not to bump your camera.
You can even zoom the lens during exposure for some interesting effects

Experiment and best of all have fun

Gallery images below shot mainly at 5 seconds, f16 at 100 ISO

Print IT!

Franklin Viola

Here’s the simple math on “megapixels”

3 will make an outstanding 8 x 10 print

6 to crop deep inside a Jpeg for making an outstanding 8 x 10 print

Jpegs from a 2 megapixel camera average 1 MB

Jpegs from a 12 megapixel camera can be over 10 MB

Pictures posted on Facebook are no more than 150 KB (unless you choose the high resolution slower option)

Eye-popping photography does not jump off the wall until it is printed! 🙂

Printed Anne – Nikon D300, DX 85mm Micro-Nikkor VR f/3.5 lens (great for portraits too!), ISO 800, f/8 at 1/30 sec, 8.62 MB Jpeg ‘Fine’ cropped in Photoshop to 8″ x 10″ at 300dpi (5.02 MB)

Full-Frame Anne – Nikon D700, Nikkor VR 28-300mm G f/3.5-5.6 lens, ISO 800, f/8 at 1/10 sec, 9.06 MB Jpeg ‘Fine’ re-sized in Photoshop 720px x 478px at 72dpi (133 KB) for this electronic conversation

Snow – Photographing Winter’s Majesty

Franklin Viola

The weekend’s precipitous frozen flurry presented a wondrous opportunity to capture the majesty of winter’s cloak. Armored in boots, cap and gloves, I marched into the white of Sunday morning’s golden light with my Nikon D-SLR and a spare battery, of course, warm and snug in the pocket of my Gortex jacket!

Strong diagonal rays and shadows accentuate a classic winter scene.
Winters Majesty
©Franklin Viola

IPTC Data: Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 12-24 at 12mm, ISO 200, f/8 at 1/125sec (Manual mode), Tripod

Emphasizing powder coating with ‘close-focus wide-angle’ imaging

Snowy Bench
©Franklin Viola

IPTC Data: Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 12-24 at 22mm, ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/250sec (Manual mode)

Selective framing to contrast ‘icons’ of  hot and cold
Chimney - Icicles - Contrail
©Franklin Viola
IPTC Data: Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 24-120 at 105mm, ISO 200, f/8 at 1/320sec (Manual mode), Tripod
Have a question about winter photography? Please leave a comment, email, visit the store or visit our Winter shooting tips on our blog.

Nikon 200-400 VR AF-S lens rental now available

Franklin Viola

Recently on assignment in Panama, I used my Nikon 200-400 VR AF-S lens and Nikon D300 camera to capture this image of a Female Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) drinking nectar from a Hibiscus flower.
Black-Chinned Hummingbird
©Franklin Viola

IPTC Data: Nikon D300, Nikon 200-400 VR AF-S f/4 at 400mm (effective 600mm on DX body), ISO 640, f/8 at 1/200sec, iTTL fill-flash with Nikon SB800 (EV-2.0), Tripod

Observing the tiny birds ‘routine flight path’ to specific flowers for over an hour, I pre-set focus in AF, then switched to Manual focus to ‘lock’ my composition. Using a Nikon wired shutter-release, Bogen carbon-fiber tripod and Wimberly gimbal-head, the 200-400mm never flinched even in my excitement as the ‘hummer’ flew into position. iTTL fill-flash from a Nikon SB800 (hand-held via SC17 cable) applied just the right  ‘stop-action’ to complement the gyrating wing-blur. This artificial ‘light’ also added color ‘pop’, an often under-used tool in outdoor photography!

Nikon’s 200-400mm VR f/4 AF-S lens works with all Nikon ‘full-frame’, as well as Nikon APS-size sensor (DX) D-SLRs. You too can ‘reach out’ with this lens through BCC’s rental department. Call 201.664.4113 or come by the Westwood store for more details.
Nikon 200-400 Lens