BOOOOOOOOMM !!!!

Glittering Sky !!!

Although I was using a 18-55 lense for my D40, I still hoped to capture some of the spectacular scenes in the sky. I know this would have been much better using a 55-200. But the good part was, at least I had a tripod for a steady and focused capture, knowing u need to capture these at night mode or manual with really low shutter speed. Following are the specifics of the above one:
Metering : Matrix, Aperture : F3.5, Exposure mode : Night portrait, Exp. +/- : 0.0, Focal length : 18mm, ISO : 500


believe the most important thing while capturing fireworks is... Timing !!!. The above capture is a perfect example of this. The two explosions captured above had a timing difference of less than a second (literally it was fraction of a second!!). However, the snap clearly shows the difference in the way they are captured. The red one (on the left) exploded first and is collapsing when the 2nd one happened.
Further, timing becomes all the more important looking at the following settings. The exposure is night portrait, which will have a extended shutter exposure. The Aperture is also not too small at 4.8. On the other hand, the explosions happen for a fraction of second. Hence, managing these two extremes (lazy Camera settings and quick and short subject exposure) becomes all the more difficult. All you need is ... timing !!!
Metering : Matrix, Aperture : F4.8, Exposure mode : Night portrait, Exp. +/- : 0.0, Focal length : 38mm, ISO : 1600

Happy Diwali !!!

This is one of my favourites of the day !!! Captured right at the start of the shoot for the day and was hard to believe, as I was least hoping to capture this. As I mentioned earlier, timing is what makes it look perfect. But nevertheless, the mode and settings with which this is captured also adds to the beauty of it. The background is pitch black (however, its in the same sky as other pics and u can clearly see a red glow in other pics). This was taken in manual mode rather than night exposure and hence had to work on some other settings on my own.
Metering : Martix, Shutter : 1/1.6, Aperture : F9, Exp. +/- : +2.0 Focal lenght : 55 mm, Optimize image : more vivid, ISO : 250, Tone and sharpness : High.