Tips for Shooting Fireworks

May 19, 2012 by Franklin Wang | 2 Comments

Victoria_Day_Fireworks_Niagara_Falls_Ontario.jpg

The Victoria Day long weekend in Canada marks the beginning of an all summer long firework displays in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  Every Friday, Sunday, and holiday between May 18 and September 2, the sky above the Falls will be lit up by beautiful fireworks.  The photo above was taken last night, the opening night of the longest running fireworks series in Canada.

If you are planning to go out and photograph fireworks this weekend, you may find the simple tips below helpful in getting great results. For a photo like the one above, you will need the following settings:

  1. Put your camera in Manual (“M”) shooting mode.  Many compact cameras come with M shooting mode, so you don’t need to have a DSLR to follow this recipe.  The photo above was taken with my point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot G12.
  2. Use a tripod.  To capture the light trails, you will need to expose for a few seconds.  Without a tripod, you will end up with blurry pictures.
  3. Set the aperture to f/5.6
  4. Set the shutter speed to 5 seconds
  5. Set the ISO speed to 200

These settings are good for images with both foreground and background elements, but they are just a starting point.  I usually monitor the results during the shoot, and adjust the settings accordingly.  I usually reduce the shutter speed to 3 seconds and ISO speed to 100 towards the end when the explosions are more rapid.

(To my Canadian friends, do you know that Nova Scotia is the only province or territory not to count Victoria Day as holiday?)

Down The Hallway

April 20, 2012 by Franklin Wang | 2 Comments
Untitled by FW Photos
A photo by FW Photos on Flickr.

I took this photo in the hallway of the Meadowvale 4 Rinks, where my kids attend their figure skating classes. It was taken during the Wheels Walking Competition last October. Along with getting 10,000 steps a day I also wanted to do a photo a day – a target that seemed easily obtainable for a short period of just 3 weeks. But on this night when it was dark and raining outside, I was struggling to find a picture until I saw this man walking down the hallway. I raised my camera and waited for him to get to the far end of the hallway before I clicked away.

I have since developed a better appreciation for people who are doing or have done their Project 365 (a photo a day for 365 days).  It really is not an easy task, but it is a real good way to train your eyes and improve your photography skills.

The Exchange, Mississauga Farmers’ Market

April 17, 2012 by Franklin Wang | 2 Comments

The_Exchange_Farmers_Market_Mississauga_Ontario.jpg

I have been receiving quite a few page views on my Mississauga Farmers’ Market post, even more than a month after it was published.  It seems that many people are looking for information as the opening date for the 36th Annual Farmers’ Market is fast approaching.  So I thought I would post another candid photo taken 2 years ago at the market, and put up a link where you will find the time of operation and location of the market.

Dancing on the Water

April 15, 2012 by Franklin Wang | 4 Comments

Port_Credit_at_Night_Mississauga_Ontario.jpg

Port Credit is a beautiful place day and night.  If you follow my photography, you probably have seen many pictures I have taken in and around this area.  When I was there two weeks ago, I couldn’t help but snapped another one when I saw the lights from the lighthouse and street lamps leaped and sparkled on the water.  Through the viewfinder they looked as if they were dancing on the water.

Creating A Family Album, On the Cloud

April 7, 2012 by Franklin Wang | Leave a comment

Vanessa_Jesse_Mississauga_Ontario.jpg

A few years ago I created a slideshow of my children’s photos using Windows Live Movie Maker and completed with some of my favourite easy listening tunes.  I then burned the slideshow onto DVDs and gave them to my brother and sisters.  That was before Facebook became very popular.  In fact, there were only about 100 million Facebook users at the time I created the slideshow in 2008.  Today, the number of Facebook users has grown to more than 800 million users.  Getting connected with families, friends, and colleagues on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks has become the way of life for many people.  Though I am not a very “social” person, it is time for me to rethink and recreate my family album, and put it on the cloud.

Going through photos from the past years has brought a lot of joy and laughter to my wife and me.  We found the above photo in my external hard drive, and it is one of those photos that we have long forgotten.  It is a photo of baby Jesse and his cousin Vanessa, who made a two-hour trip from London, Ontario to see Jesse and welcome him into this world.  The image was shot on a film camera and converted to digital using my $29 Canon all-in-one colour printer.  With just a few adjustments in Photoshop to clean up the image and add an aged photo effect, this photo now belongs to my new family album on the cloud.