I have a D50 Nikon digital camera, tips on pictures of the night or fireworks?

Question

Going to disneyworld and would like to capture it on camera, but how

Answer 1

This can be tricky. IF POSSIBLE, you would get better results with a tripod and a VR lens. Nikon makes VR lenses in 18-135 and 18-200 (among others) that might be useful for this venture.

If you find that the fireworks are all going to pretty much the same altitude, you can pre-set the camera on a tripod, using a bit of a wide angle view to be sure that you capture the whole burst. If they are varied, you can use the tripod with just two legs on the ground or even just one and kind of track the bomb trail until it bursts.

Use the P,A,S or M mode so you have more control and so you can leave the flash turned off. It will pop up if you try this in AUTO.

You will have to use as large an aperture (small numbers) as possible and you will have to use 1-to-2 seconds, maybe even more, at ISO 200 or 400. Familiarize yourself with these adjustments so you can quickly make adjustments if you need to. Once you find a setting that is satsifactory, don't mess with it! Assume that the rest of the shots will need pretty much the same exposure.

I've also taken decent shots of fireworks by laying down on my back and looking up instead of using a tripod.

The D50 night portait mode might be useful for general scenes at night.

Here's a long discussion about fireworks at Disney:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=285194

Here are some sites with fireworks:
http://digiphoto.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/07/05/disneyland-fireworks/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smtpboy/373815843/in/pool-views300/

Answer 2

I have no idea what your experience level is in photography so here is a simplified plan that will work. Most important is a tripod and cable release, it is virtually impossible to take a handheld photo at any speed under 1/60 sec, and then you gotta be steady. Find a spot where you can set up undisturbed and not blocking access or veiws of others. I am not familar with the d50, can you disable the flash.? flash at long distance subjects gives your photos that hazy look. If you know how I suggest that you operate the camera on manual setting, take your readings from the cameras metering system, take photos at that setting, some others at one setting up and one setting down, (braketing)between the three settings you should get photos that are spot on.

Answer 3

The previous posters have pretty much covered it. I will add, there is a pretty good tutorial at www.nyip.com on shooting fireworks. That's the NY Institute of Photography website
.
Another thing: I'm not sure if Disney will allow tripods in the park. And even if they do, are you sure you want to lug it around all day?
Good luck!

I was going to Disney this year, but our grandchildren (ages 5 and 7) wanted to go to Washington DC instead!! So we changed plans, lol!

Answer 4

I've been to disneyworld and you can't count on having the perfect spot to take your pictures. Having said that, my favourite firework pictures were taken at a faster speed and some of that is luck. Firework settings are fun but with the slow shutter speed (and a tripod) all of the pictures start to look the same.