Tips on Photographing Fireworks

It’s almost July 4th and soon the Fireworks will begin. In some places they already have. Families take the kids, and often the cameras to witness these wonderful pyrotechnic displays and often the results are somewhat disappointing when they just don’t capture the color and vitality of the moment. So hear are some tips for shooting fireworks.

To start with you need a camera that you can control yourself. Very simple, auto everything cameras are not likely to give the results you want. You will need a sturdy tripod as well. Assuming you are using a digital camera, place the camera on the tripod facing toward where you expect to see the display. A wide angle (zoomed out) on the lens until you can see just where the activity will be, then you can adjust the zoom as the fireworks begin to go off. A vertical format works best. You want to fill as much of the frame as you can, but still leave yourself room for the randomness of where these explosions will occur. Depending on how close you are to the display, you may need to zoom in or out as things take place.

Set your camera on manual focus. And set your focus for 500 feet to infinity, at least very distant. Auto focus will not have time or anything still and sharp to locate, so will likely just give you blurs as it seeks something to focus on. If your camera has image stabilization, turn it off too. You will be on a tripod with long exposures and do not want the camera trying to compensate for image movement. Start out with your ISO set to about 400. You may find as you shoot that images are still too bright. If so, reset the ISO lower, 200 or even 100 with very bright fireworks. Set your exposures to manual as well. Shutter should be set to B for bulb (time exposure). You’ll be experimenting with long exposure times, and trying to anticipate when to press the shutter release. Aperture should be set fairly small in the beginning. This will not only help make your exposures longer without over exposure, but will also give you the greatest depth of field (how much is in focus from near to far).

When the fireworks begin, listen for the first low boom that signals the launch of the rocket or aerial bomb. Push the shutter release and hold it open for several seconds awaiting the burst in the air. Hold the shutter long enough to allow the explosion to pan out across the sky. This will give you the long trails and graceful curves. It also allows for other explosions to take place at the same time, giving multiple bursts at different points of expansion and multiple colors. You will likely find, as you review your exposures, that two to eight seconds will provide good results and as you shoot more and more and learn to anticipate the right moment to release the shutter, you can narrow down to a regular rhythm of two to four seconds at a time.

If your bursts look too small, zoom in. If your shots are too bright, try smaller aperture or lower ISO. If they are too dark, higher ISO and larger aperture. If you’re not getting enough spread, longer exposures.

Be careful at the grand finale, it will get really bright!

Be safe, have fun, and celebrate!

All Images are Copyright © George Cannon, All Rights Reserved.

Spring Showcase with Running To Places

It seems my daughter can’t get enough of stage performances. Before she was finished this year with dance at Armstrong School of Dance, she joined a relatively new theater group called Running To Places.

This is an organization formed to allow middle and high school students from all the area schools to learn how to be part of a theater company, the ins and outs of stage performance, and everything involved in a musical theater production.

Talented kids across a wide age range work on sets, management, music, the actual performance, and all aspects of the overall experience. With an ambitious schedule that has already included Fame, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Pirates of Penzance, they came to our local elementary school auditorium to put on Spring Showcase, a medley of various musical excerpts from a number of different plays.

Still to come this summer are Sweet Charity and Damn Yankees. The name, Running To Places, comes from the fact that they practice and perform at many different venues, where ever they can find space. Schools, church basements, and any space that’s available, in order to keep up with their rigorous schedule. These kids are amazingly talented and dedicated and the staff of adults that act as their mentors, teachers, and supervisors do an amazing job of assisting these talented students in making a top notch show. Money for the company comes from grants, donations, and sponsors. No kid is turned away for financial reasons.

Several familiar faces of local people were among the cast, but it was incredibly satisfying to also experience some of the young talent from other schools that I had not seen before plus performances by the adult members of the production team of Running To Places who also joined the showcase.

The show was professional, fun, and extremely entertaining. Thanks to everyone involved with Running To Places, and best of luck with the rest of the season. I’m really looking forward to it.

All Images are Copyright © George Cannon.

ASD Late Performances

The 14th annual recitals and performances by the dancers from the Armstrong School of Dance continued into the evening performance that highlights the older girls and the team dancers. These girls are from about ten to eighteen years old and have generally been in classes since they were in the tots groups. The evening began with a long line of precision tap that these girls do so well. You get hints of Rockefeller Center and can almost bet that some of these girls could easily make it that far. It’s inspiring.

Karen has a great sense for picking costumes for these groups. They are fun and colorful and as a group, enliven the stage and the performance.

The team dancers and all the competitive dancers had a fantastic year again. After winning a national championship at PDTA last year, they came back this year to win numerous competitions and awards including a 1st and 2nd place at Tremaine, a 1st and two 2nds at Dance America and “Best Emotional Execution” for “I Run For Life” and “Best Presentation” for “Swing With Me”.

They swept the awards at PDTA this year with three 1st place Junior Grand Champion Awards, two 1st, two 2nd, and two 3rd place Senior Grand Champion awards, and numerous scholarship awards for individuals. An amazing and impressive year for an amazing group of dedicated and talented kids. We are all so proud of them.

Every year there are senior girls who graduate high school and leave the company. The seniors get to choreograph and perform a senior showcase piece. This year Sarah Mattison, Michelle Buchanan, and Fatima Sowe had the privilege with “Apologize”.

Since our daughter has been with Armstrong it has been such a treat to watch so many of these girls every year as they grow and mature as performers, to see the same faces year after year go from the tiny struggling “duckling” phase to seasoned graceful artists.

Next year will be her last year since she will be graduating and it will be so difficult to watch her be a part of the tearful goodbyes that take place on Saturday night when these girls say their thank you’s and farewells to a team that has become their extended family and to Karen, Karen’s Mom, and the other staff and teachers that these girls admire and love so much.

All images are Copyright © George Cannon, All Rights Reserved.

All images from this performance can be viewed and purchased at http://www.georgecannon.printroom.com.

Armstrong Dancers – The Early Performances

Last weekend, as I mentioned in my last post, the Armstrong School of Dance put on their 14th annual recital/dance extravaganza at Ford Hall on the Ithaca College campus.

They have so many students that they have to break up the performances into two sessions. The early session is always the younger dancers that are all under ten years old. Backstage is a chaotic but carefully orchestrated team of older girls and parents keeping all these tiny dancers occupied, made up, hair dressed, bathroom tended, costumed, and lined up for entrances and exits. Amazingly, year after year, it goes off like clockwork for the most part.

Dress rehearsal usually sees a few who just refuse to move once on stage, or who take their leave of the line up to address relatives in the audience. But by the time they hit the stage for the real thing, most do amazingly well. I can barely remember my daughter when she was in the early show, dancing with all the tiny girls. Amazing how fast the time passes and how quickly they grow up.

The changes in the older girls and the growth in their talents and abilities as dancers and performers is easy to see as the classes progress and their poise and grace mature. They are more focused, more at ease on stage, and more confidant in their bodies. It’s a great thing for self esteem as well as physical fitness. It teaches them how to be a part of a group, how to play a part in the whole and still shine as an individual. In the beginning it’s just plain fun.

Interspersed with these tots, the Armstrong Team Dancers perform twice. I love this part because it allows me to watch my daughter a couple of extra times. I can never get enough of watching her dance. Other team girls who teach classes with the very little girls are expected to be on stage with them to guide their steps.

I love watching these fledgling dancers, knowing that they will likely be the team girls in several years, growing from spindly legged colts to fine thoroughbreds with the guidance of Karen and her staff. These girls all become a family, with tight friendships with their classmates and caring and admiration for their instructors who are mentors, big sisters, and good friends as well.

They are a joy to watch. Bring lightness and warmth to the heart. They are tiny treasures. They are the epitome of childhood in all they do.

Bless you all tiny dancers.

All images are Copyright © George Cannon, All Rights Reserved.

All images from this event are available for individual purchase at http://www.georgecannon.printroom.com.

Oh, For That Kind of Stamina!

This past weekend was dance weekend. The Fourteenth Annual Performances of the Armstrong School of Dance were held once again at Ford Hall on the campus of Ithaca College. My daughter has, as in years previous, been a member of the dance team and has also been teaching and choreographing younger students this year. Nine classes a week in all between hers and theirs. I don’t know how she does it and with such ease it seems. But dance is her life and she lives and breathes it. So the big weekend began on Thursday night with dress rehearsals, then performances on Saturday and Sunday.

Her mom and I were running around as support staff. My wife working behind the scenes to help with the “ducklings”. These are the tiny kids that perform earlier during the day. They need lots of backstage entertaining, bathroom escorts, costume changes, and hand holding. It’s an organizational masterpiece. (there will be pix of these little peaches in the next post) My job was flowers, food for in between performances, and general pack mule, as well as photographer.

They left early on Saturday and I arrived at 6:00 after picking up food and flowers. The young ones had already danced (as well as two performances by the dance team girls). The changeover takes about two hours, then the older girls danced for another two hours. Including finales, my daughter danced on stage for twelve different numbers with hasty costume changes in between. Tap, jazz, precision, lyrical, ballet, point, and hip-hop. And the show was amazing. I had seen a couple of the numbers at earlier performances they had done around the community. They also dance competitively and have brought home so many trophies and awards this year. They are an awesome group of girls. But back to the whole stamina thing.

No sooner had the performances ended than I brought in my daughters prom dress, she changed at the hall, and off she went to her junior prom. The bus back from the all night party arrived back at her school at 4:30 AM and she was back up at 9:00 the next morning to shower and head back out to the dance hall. Another round of all day performances, then off to do another two or three hours of practice with a new theater group she has joined and finally home at 10:00 PM to do the homework she still had for Monday. I get exhausted just thinking about it.

To my daughter I can only say, I am so proud of you. You are graceful and elegant and a wonder to behold on stage. Your smile says you are alive and happy and joyous. Your emotion and passion are in every step. You brought tears to my eyes and I could not take my eyes off you as you moved across that floor. And your stamina is astounding! Thank you for all you bring and all you give when you perform. You are a very beautiful and special girl.

All images are Copyright © George Cannon, All Rights Reserved.