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Ok, where to start this thing. I guess I have to start with how it came to be, as well as try to convey the perspective 10mm gives you on a DSLR(1.6x crop..........so 16mm as seen on a regular 35mm cam or full frame digital). Looking in a book from Canon I see 17mm gives you an amamzing 104 degree view, the long way. Like I said, this 10mm lens on my camera is the same as 16mm on a film cam or full frame digital(very expensive, $3k for the cheaper canon full frame....5D......$7-8k for the big dog 1Ds...I of course own neither). So we'll just go with 105 degree view since 17mm is 104 and my 10mm on my cam is equal to 16mm. I'm getting at least the 105 degree view. 90 degree is a right angle. So if you have an object at the very bottom of a vertical shot, like above, you'd be able to also include something straight up from it, if you are level with the lower object. That's just with 90 degrees. My perspective is closer to the 105, so I can get stuff beyond straight up when looking like this. It's called an ultra wide angle lens. I don't seem to see any that canon makes that are wider...without being a fisheye(180 degree, though circular looking then). So anyway, the above shot is just trying to convey this view. The towel on the floor is placed directly below the ceiling fan. I'm laying on my side only about 2-3 feet from the towel, or about the length of those fan blades. The fan would be the other arm of the 90 degree angle(right angle, you can make one with your finger and thumb in the shape of an L). The tip of that top blade is pretty much drirectly above me, straight up. Not up and over a bit, but STRAIGHT UP. So, when you look at the fireworks on this account, know that any in that location are directly overhead. And obviously this is not the top of the frame. Fireworks that arc overhead and beyond will be captured too. It's a messed up perspective, that is for sure.
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Here is a different view trying to show just how wide a 105 degree view is, or 10mm on my Rebel XT. I'm only 5' 9", not 20 feet like it looks. Things away from the edges, towards the center, rapidly look smaller than they are. But anyway, the important thing to realize is that explosions located in the same region as that cieling fan are straight up overhead. Things beyond that area of an image, were going off behind me, after passing overhead. It takes some real effort to see them in the image, as going off directly overhead or beyond. I was there and have a hard time visualizing it in these ultra wide angle images. Regardless if anyone is able to gauge that or not, I think the angle made for some sweet views/images. Some other quick info. I was contacted by Terry Hansen with Midwest Fireworks here in town. This was back in early June. He wondered if I'd shoot them. I thought I would but didn't want any pressure of having to do well, so said I likely would, but if they needed some good ones they'd probably need to get someone else wanting that sort of pressure. I added that if I was around and shot, and they liked some, that could work too. So the month or so goes by, but I never get this 10mm idea. When does this pop into my head? Thursday night on the 5th. I thought, man, it might be cool to have a super wide angle lens and be near the mortar tubes, getting them in the shot with the display firing away overhead. Couple problems with this idea. I don't have an ultra-wide. I have my 17-40L, but it's not quite wide enough. The other problem was it was getting a bit late to order online and have it here in time. Seeings how I needed one for chasing anyway, as well as all the other things one can do with these, I decided to drive to Omaha and buy one. I really hate to do this as it only costs like $670 or something from bhphotovideo.com, while Rockbrook Camera in Omaha has it for $829....plus you get to pay tax! It's pretty stupid, but if one wants one right then, it's the only option. I did this exact same thing when I bought my 17-40L. That time I bought it for the aurora display that was likely that night.....the one that never happened. That time the pricing was pretty identical. I don't see how camera stores sell things anymore, other than to idiots like myself, or those that aren't aware just how much more they charge than very reputable dealers online(www.bhphotovideo.com is considered one of the best). So I buy the lens Friday and talk with Terry and get the ok to have myself and two other chasers/photographers do this. We were allowed to be 75 feet from the mortar tubes. The we would be me, Bob Matzen, and Randy Chamberlain. We got up there around 9pm and wondered just how wild this was going to be. The 2 10 inch mortar tubes/shells near the road said it would be pretty NUTS. We were told to not trip over the wires attached to them. No problem! I could see it, snag, trip, BOOM. Dead chasers. If the million big mortar tubes we'd be 25 yards from weren't saying it well enough, a couple of the guys there did. They laughed and said, "Wow, you know you're the only photographers that would agree to come up here." Perhaps our legs were being pulled, I don't know. Hell, I'd sign a waiver if it allowed me to go lay right next to the tubes and shoot....with some fire protection anyway....and some goggles.
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So, here we go, show getting started. The crowd is on the other side of those smaller front displays, a fair distance(a lot further away than our seat!). The guys near the table are the crew, obviously. This is looking north. The main stuff was to our right/east. The first ball out of the main area let us know what we were in for. The three of us just had to laugh and think, "oh god". It would become excessively cool. It was the coolest thing I've seen in a loooooong time. I hear the show was great from the normal view, like GREAT. From our location the only word that seems to fit for me is, "nuts".
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Panned right for the stuff now starting to fire from the main tubes. The explostions towards the top are directly over our heads. The mortars tubes look a lot further away than they actually are, with this extremely wide angle view.
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They all had this distinct "ppphhhhhoooooooommmmpppfff" sound as they left the tubes. There were a few that did not go high enough. You knew it by the sound, the second they left the tubes. That slower/shallow sounding "pphhhooommppfff" was like a big alarm going off in one's head. We were like, ooohhhhh nooo, as we watched it barely take flight back over our heads. Boooooom! "Yeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh"
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By this point the exposure was fairly squared in at F8 or less(smaller.....F9, F10, F11....at least for now....F16 or so during the finale). This was done with bulb while on manual, with ISO of 100.
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And again, the stuff towards the top is straight up. If you tilt your head all the way back it might help. The super wide confuses a lot of things, but it most certainly gives an interesting perspective on something one was so close to. I hope the whole house and ceiling fan thing can be a bit of a guide for these.
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That white trail one has arced well past straight up.
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This is one of my favorites from the night. Looks like a ginormous dandelion.
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Here is one I obviously pushed the shutter release after it had fired, and let go(shut the shutter) before another one was fired. Once you know the settings(simple enough) it's extremely simple to shoot fireworks like this. I see that manual focusing at 10mm is pretty easy too. Anything beyond like 5 feet away is infinity. Early in the day I kept using auto focus on distant objects, to see what exactly would be infinity, as the marker is seldom perfect(though will be close). I found that thing jumped all over around the marker, when I'd point the focus point at the same object. In the end, none of the differences made a difference.
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It didn't take long before I gave up switching around to these front displays. Each time I would, they'd stop and the others would go again. I'd have to change the tilt of the camera too, so the horizon would be straight.
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Continue to Page 2 for the rest, including the crazy finale, as well as the youTube video clip.
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