My wonderful wife purchased a new camera for me and my mother gave me two Neutral Density (ND) filters. ND filters have been used for a long time by landscape photographers to get that silky, dreamy water everyone likes. Until I read the Disney Photography Blog's ebook on fireworks technique the thought of using a ND filter for fireworks hadn't crossed my mind.
Using a ND filter for fireworks has its good and bad side. First the good side. Decreasing the amount of light that reaches the sensor allows you to keep the shutter open for longer periods. This results in more bursts per frame. My last post on fireworks (which is linked at the top of this post) has examples without the ND filter. Most have just a few bursts in them.
This first shot was during the villain scene in the Wishes show. With a .9 (8x) ND filter I was able to keep the shutter open for the entire scene. Exif for this shot: D800, 24-70mm 2,8 @ 31mm, iso 100, f/9.0, exposure 60 seconds. In comparison my best shots from last trip were averaging just a few seconds at a much smaller aperture.
Now the downside to using a ND filter. Since the exposures are now much longer the number of shots you can get per show are greatly reduced. Less shots means a smaller chance for getting a great shot and less opportunity to experiment with different settings. The great part about experimenting on your fireworks photos at Disney is they have fireworks pretty much every night and sometimes twice in the same evening.
My wife's favorite part of the Wishes show. 30 seconds @ f/9.0
Finale from Wishes. 21 seconds @ f/9.0
Illuminations finale. 32 seconds @ f/8.0
Using a ND filter for fireworks has its good and bad side. First the good side. Decreasing the amount of light that reaches the sensor allows you to keep the shutter open for longer periods. This results in more bursts per frame. My last post on fireworks (which is linked at the top of this post) has examples without the ND filter. Most have just a few bursts in them.
This first shot was during the villain scene in the Wishes show. With a .9 (8x) ND filter I was able to keep the shutter open for the entire scene. Exif for this shot: D800, 24-70mm 2,8 @ 31mm, iso 100, f/9.0, exposure 60 seconds. In comparison my best shots from last trip were averaging just a few seconds at a much smaller aperture.
Now the downside to using a ND filter. Since the exposures are now much longer the number of shots you can get per show are greatly reduced. Less shots means a smaller chance for getting a great shot and less opportunity to experiment with different settings. The great part about experimenting on your fireworks photos at Disney is they have fireworks pretty much every night and sometimes twice in the same evening.
My wife's favorite part of the Wishes show. 30 seconds @ f/9.0
Finale from Wishes. 21 seconds @ f/9.0
Illuminations finale. 32 seconds @ f/8.0
