Written on Oct 31st, 2008 by Dave Adams
Firework Photography, Manual Focus, Shutter Release, Tripod
Post Information and Notes
Firework photography tips. How to photograph spectacular buit tricky to shoot firework displays.
- Level:Beginner to Intermediate
- Tools:DSLR Camera & Tripod
- Time:N/A
Here in the UK its coming upto bonfire night (5th November) which means plenty of opportunity to take some photographs of the spectacular firework displays that go hand in hand with these events.
The problem is, photographing fireworks isn’t as straight forward and easy as you’d hope. There are a number of issue to contend with - its dark, the speed the fireworks go off, and the inability to focus on a dark sky all mean that without careful preparation and planning, you may end up with no photographs at all.
Fireworks by foxypar4

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This article about mastering firework photography will hopefully help and guide you through some of the best tips to making bonfire night a photographic night to remember.
[Read more on Mastering Firework Photography]
Written on Oct 30th, 2008 by Dave Adams
Babies, Children, Masterclass, Shutter-Priority, Teenagers, Teens, Tips
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Tips on mastering the art of photographing children, from babies to teens.
- Level:Beginner
- Tools:Camera
- Time:N/A
I really didn’t know what to call this article, as its really falls into the portraiture category, but I didn’t want to tie it in with the more general topic of straight portrait photography as this will be a separate post later on.
So, for now, let just go with the fact that this is an article about photographing children, whether they are your own or a commissioned shoot of someones else little ones. I will talk about taking more candid shots, as it is these that really interest me. Formal posed photographs always leave me a little cold, I prefer to capture the moment, and these tend to reflect personality better than anything else.
The first point to note is that someone once said don’t work with children or animals and that person may well have been talking as a photographer. Children, from young babies through to the early teens, all have one thing in common - they don’t usually want to be photographed. And if they do want to be photographed, they’ll normally insist on overacting for the camera, which can be a hinderance if you are intending to get candid shots rather than the forced pose kind of photographs.
As a photographer, you need to be aware that your subject might not be the most willing participant, and that pointing a large DSLR at a child within minutes of meeting them for the first time will not win you friends.
Ideally you should take a little time to get to know your subjects before bringing the camera into play. If these are you own children you are photographing, I’m going to assume you at least know their names!
[Read more on Mastering Photography of Children]
Written on Oct 28th, 2008 by Dave Adams
Fast Glass, High ISO, Low light, Manual Mode, Masterclass, Shutter-Priority
Post Information and Notes
Tips on mastering low light sports and action photography, and the importance of shutter speed.
- Level:Beginner
- Tools:Camera
- Time:N/A
In my last post I talked about mastering motorsport photography, and today I’m going to talk about something I touched on in that post, low light photography.
Sometimes you have little or no control over how a subject is lit. Sports is one of those areas of photography where you have no control - if its an outdoors event you are at the mercy of the weather, indoors you are at the mercy of whatever lighting has been provided for the competitors.
Indoor Ice Hockey by KPMPhotography

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In this post I want to focus on the indoor arena, although some of this advice is applicable to outdoor photography when the weather is poor, the light is beginning to fade towards the end of the day, or you are under the cover of trees where the sun cannot penetrate the canopy.
[Read more on Mastering Low Light Sports and Action Photography]