Tag: Photography

I’m posting the three “best” photos I took during the World Pyro Olympics and as far as I can remember, illustrate how I took them. May I reiterate that I am not a professional photographer and that most of the tips I got from shooting fireworks was taken from online tutorials and from Anton. Click on the images for the full size. You can also click here for my Flickr gallery.

Photo Tip Number 1: Catch the trail

This is the ‘Spanish Sojourn.’ To catch the trail, you must make sure that the streak shooting up is very visible to the eye. Using bulb mode and a dark cloth / cardboard, expose when the flare shoots up and expose again (use the dark cloth) when the fireworks are at full bloom.

Photo Tip Number 2: Paint the flower vase

Similar to photo tip number one but applied on a wider scale. The objective is to paint a flower vase. China had several of these in line so I had many chances to get the vase. Again, using bulb mode expose when the vase (bottom) is being created. While still in bulb, shut the lens with the cloth. When each fireworks are shot up, expose depending on how you want the “flowers” to “bloom.” A variety is good. “Paint” several of these by exposing and covering the lens but not too much, because the longer you expose, you are slowly overexposing the vase.

Photo Tip Number 3: Have an interesting foreground

Here is a shot i took of team Philippines’ fireworks display. I wanted to fill in the frame with a lot more interesting subjects so I used the foreground as filler. There were a lot of kids wearing glowing devil headbands so I decided to use them as a frame.

For manual mode camera settings and logistics, click here.

Last night, Anton, Ka Edong, Abraham, myself and a bunch of other folk went to see the second day of the World Pyro Olympics.

I decided to post some tips I got from Anton as well as some of my personal thoughts if you decide to make your way to the other days. Click on the images for a larger version.

Logistics and where to park

• The best place to park would be in the Blue Wave area because of the abundance of parking space with the new field parking. Blue Wave is located at the Petron Gas Station at the corner that leads straight to Mall of Asia.
• There are many reasons why you would want to park there: it makes for a good meeting place for your other friends because of the many restaurants available, it has clean restrooms so you can do your business before going to the venue (the Esplanade has portalets – I doubt you would want to trust your ass sitting on a very dirty portalet in the venue area), and the place is walking distance from all the hubub that will be caused in the MOA area.
Continue reading “Tips for Taking Photos at the 2007 World Pyro Olympics”

One of the things I love about the holidays is taking photos of people you haven’t seen in a long time. Call me a schmuck for telling you this – but if you were going to buy a camera, last week would have been the best time to buy it so you could use it now.

In lieu of this, I direct you to Darren Rowse’s 16 Digital Photography Tips for the Christmas Holidays:

Speaking of not seeing people in a long time, congratulations to newlyweds Asia (my good friend’s “little sister”) and Ken who married last week at the Villa Escudero!