Seasons Change - A Cautionary Tale for Video Producers

What is one thing that often (not always) gets overlooked when planning a video shoot?
Weather? Possibly, but most people do take the weather into account when planning a video shoot especially if it will be shot outdoors.
No more often overlooked is the season.

Now to tell you a little story.

A few years ago I was hired to shoot some business profiles for a municipality. The majority of these shoots would be indoors so we wouldn't have to even worry about weather or what season they were shot in. So we thought.
The shoots took place through the end of November into December. We shot interviews combined with b-roll of each business doing what they do. Everything was going smoothly. That is until the municipality decided it would be a good idea (and it was a good idea) to include some b-roll or beauty shots of the municipality when it was mentioned in the interviews. What was envisioned was nice shots of a busy shopping district with pedestrians window shopping, lush green parks, flowers in the flower beds, and a nice warm sunny feel. That would be perfect.
Of course we were shooting in November/December in Canada. What does that look like? Leafless trees, brown grass, possibly snow. Now it is very possible to shoot a street in the downtown anytime of year on a sunny day and make it look warm, but unless we hired extras, there would not be pedestrians window shopping in t-shirts. To make matters worse, many towns put up there Christmas decorations around mid-November. So while we may be able to disguise the fact that it was not summer, there was no way (other than expensive effects work) to get rid of the Christmas decorations. This was meant to be a year round piece and Christmas decor would certainly place it at a specific time.
Of course we did our best shooting around things and getting the best looking shots. The videos turned out great. But I can't help feeling that they would have been just a little bit better had someone had the foresight to plan the shoot just a little earlier in the year.

Another tale.

I had a friend who was taking a film making course. As part of their course they had to write and produce a short film. They came up with a fantastic idea about someone finding a note in a bottle on a beach. Some of the scenes took place on the crowded beach, some took place in the water.
They had planned out exactly how they would shoot it. They had only neglected to consider one small fact.
It was January. It was -10 degrees outside, there was snow on the ground and ice on the lake.
They still managed to shoot something that was acceptable using winter scenes and an indoor pool, but it would have been infinitely better had they been able to shoot on a nice warm sunny beach.

I realize that when you plan a video shoot is based on many factors, seasons often being one further down the priority list, however it is something that you should keep in mind. Because the season do change.

Canada Day Fireworks

I shot fireworks Canada Day. Here are the results.

The first two photos were shot at 1.0 sec;   f/8;   ISO 100

The remainder were shot at 8.0 sec;   f/10;   ISO 100

All were shot with manual focus, pre-focused before shooting.

Canada Day! Time to Shoot Some Fireworks

Any holiday, whether Canada Day, Victoria Day or the Fourth of July, when there are fireworks, offer a great opportunity to get some spectacular photographs. But how do you shoot fireworks.

Location
First, find the location from which you will be shooting. What do you want to include in the shots? Are you going to include the landscape, people or just the sky?
I used to always try to just capture the fireworks all by themselves. But I found that the shots that I was happiest with, were ones that included the location I was in. Look for interesting features to include in your composition. Are there trees or interesting architecture you could include. Fireworks over water add the possibility of including great reflection in the shot. And of course there is nothing wrong with including people in the shots.
I do suggest that you scout out the location ahead of time as most places with fireworks have crowds of people. You don't want to show up late and then not be able to get a good spot.

Tripod
Using a tripod is of the utmost importance. Handheld shots usually will not turn out very good. The advantage to using a tripod (and a remote trigger if possible) is that you can frame the shot ahead of time then focus on the sky and choose when to release the shutter.

Shoot on Manual
Put every setting that can be put on manual on manual. You want control over your ISO (lower the better), aperture, shutter speed and focus. Auto focus will not work well, if at all, in the dark and you will miss your shots or have a blurred mess. Pre-focus on manual and leave it there.
Also, turn off your flash.

Aperture
Many people believe that, because it's dark, you need to shoot with a wide open aperture. But fireworks are bright. If you let too much light in, you will end up with just bright white, overexposed, fireworks. You are probably going to be better off with a smaller aperture (f/8 - f/16).

Shutter Speed
Think slow. Fireworks are moving through the sky. The patterns they make as they move are what make them spectacular. If you shoot with a fast shutter speed you will only be catching a fraction of that pattern. Here is where you can experiment. Try various shutter speeds. Try from maybe 1/8 of a second to a few seconds or more. See what gives you the best results.

So give it a try.

I will be shooting some fireworks tonight and will post the results.