1. The smell of burning black gunpowder smells like roses to you, instead of like a sewer.
2. You look lustfully at any cardboard tube, except perhaps the toilet paper roll.
| 3. FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY, YOU WOULD RATHER HAVE A CAKE AND CANDLES..... | |
|
INSTEAD OF A CAKE AND CANDLES. | |
What's the best way to take "great" firework photos? According to Chuck DeLaney, Dean of the New York Institute of Photography (NYI), the world's largest photography school, it's easy if you do a couple of simple things.
First, take a time-exposure. If you have an SLR camera, this should be no problem. With an auto-everything point-and-shoot camera, try to "fool" the camera into keeping the shutter open. Here's how: When you see a rocket shoot skyward, press the shutter-button. The darkness of the sky should cause your camera to keep the shutter open for a time-exposure, and you can end up with a splendid picture. What about using a single-use "cardboard" supermarket camera? NYI says, forget it! These cameras usually have a fixed shutter speed, and you can't "fool" them into doing the right thing no matter what you do.
Second, and equally important, since you are taking a time-exposure, your camera should be on a solid, unmoving base throughout the exposure. A tripod is best. If you don't have a tripod, try bracing your camera against some solid structure - for example, a wall, a post or a railing. They're not as good as a tripod, but they're better than hand-holding the camera. And hand-holding is a No-no!
Third, to add an extra-special touch to your picture, include something on the ground to give a sense of location to the firework display in the sky. For example, across the bottom of your frame show silhouettes of the crowd, or a statue (George Washington on horseback?), or the skyline of the city. This one trick will do more to make your fireworks pictures stand out than any other single thing you can do.
For more advice on how to take "great" fireworks pictures, visit the New York Institute of Photography (NYI) web site at <http://www.nyip.com>
Reprinted with permission from the New York Institute of Photography website at <http://www.nyip.com>
Published by Chemical Publishing Company, Inc., New York, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-8206-0354-6
Some books, such as the Machinist’s Handbook for machinists, are such useful aids that they must be bought at every revision to stay current in the technology of the field represented. I consider "Fireworks Principles and Practice" to be equally important in the field of fireworks. I have all three editions and, like many others, consider this work the "bible" of fireworks’ information. Reverend Lancaster’s love for fireworks began early in his life while growing up in Huddersfield, England, home at that time to both the Standard Fireworks and Lion Fireworks factories. He later opened Kimbolton Fireworks, the largest fireworks manufacturer currently operating in Britain. In 1992 Ronald Lancaster was made a member of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, in recognition for his contributions to the fireworks industry.
From a physical standpoint, the third edition is eighty percent heavier than the second, and at 448 pages has 130 more pages, 29 more photographs, 36 more references and six more illustrations. The book is also larger in height and width at approximately 9.5 by 6.5 inches (24 by 16.5 cm.). A clearer and slightly larger font size is used for greater ease of reading.
Still in its place as the first chapter, Roy E. A. Butler’s work on fireworks history has been greatly expanded and updated. Detailed history of many British fireworks factories is now included, as well as a representative sample of most other European countries, the United States, Canada, Asian countries, and others. That theme is continued in the first new chapter, concerning the historic evolution of fireworks displays in a number of countries, excellently written by Mark Lancaster, son of the author, and manager of Kimbolton Fireworks.
Other new chapters include ‘Gunpowder’, ‘Chemistry of Firework Compositions’, by Dr. Takeo Shimizu and ‘The Legislative Framework of Firework Control’, an international regulatory summary by Dr. Tom A. K. Smith. A thirty-three page glossary of more than three hundred fireworks and pyrotechnic terms completes the new body of material. Every existing chapter from the second edition has been revised and enlarged in this new edition. New too are twelve marvelous early twentieth century photographs from the famous Brock’s collection.
I found the addition of two new contributors and four new chapters very informative and refreshing. The core material that Reverend Lancaster has provided since the first edition in 1972 is, of course, still available, with new material about updated manufacturing techniques, formulations and effects. Of special benefit to the neophyte in this edition is the addition of the glossary, seen piecemeal in other pyrotechnic works but rarely presented to the extent available in this publication.
It was the first edition of "Fireworks Principles and Practice" that sparked my interest in fireworks beyond the average consumer’s level. This newly released third edition has helped rekindle my fascination for fireworks and my respect and admiration for Reverend Lancaster and his contributors’ expertise and authority on the subject I love most. I most certainly recommend this book for those desiring information on many facets of fireworks manufacturing, chemistry, regulations, history, displays and effects.
Table of Contents - "Fireworks Principles And Practice"
"Fireworks Principles and Practice" is available from American Fireworks News. I definitely consider this book to be "required reading" for pyrotechnicians.
The display season reaffirms my belief that there is almost nothing else
that can bring so many cheers out of so many people. That is something to
think about further. Yes, a firework display can be quite expensive, BUT
when you think of how many people will see that show, divided by the price,
it is one of the most cost-effective activities a city can do for its residents.
Thank God we love our country enough to still want to send those wonderful
shells and other fireworks up, to awe the townspeople. I would NOT want to
be living in a time and place when that was no longer true.
What Makes The Colors?
I continually receive a number of inquiries about what makes the different colors in fireworks. Let's first tell you that the points of light ejected from aerial shells, Roman candles, etc., are called STARS, in the fireworks industry. They are pellets of chemicals that burn in different colors, depending on what chemicals are used in them. Stars generally have the four following things in them: A fuel to burn, oxygen producing chemical(s), color producing chemical(s) and a binder chemical to keep the star "glued" together. The different color producing chemicals normally used are:
RED: Strontium compounds; YELLOW: Sodium compounds; GREEN: Barium compounds; BLUE: Copper compounds plus a chlorine producer; PURPLE: a mixture of strontium and copper compounds; GOLD: charcoal or lampblack; SILVER: burning titanium, aluminum or magnesium powder or flakes.
