How to shoot a falling building

Resin42 · Jul 19, 2008

There are two high rise blocks being demolished with explosives at some time tomorrow in Glasgow, (I'm yet to find the actual time, the receptionist for the demo company obviously thought I was a terrorist). Obviously I get one shot and one shot alone at getting this right and I intend to be set up and taking test shots for a while before hand but does anyone have any tips that could help me nail this? I'd really like to get something worthwhile.

Rogan · Jul 19, 2008

continuous shooting of course!
when that explosion goes off hold down the shutter button and dont let go !

then chose the best one at the end

johan.sie · Jul 19, 2008

wow indeed a lifetime opportunity you have there ..
what's your lens? i would assume you want to stand far enough to avoid the dust and debris but yeah i would say you want to freeze them, fast shutter and continuous fire would do?

Resin42 · Jul 19, 2008

I've only got my D40 kit lens so 55mm is as much zoom as I have. There is an exclusion zone and I don't yet know how large that will be but I'm hoping to get close enough frame the shot well and get some detail. I'm betting there'll be so many photographers there it'll be like a papparazi scrum trying to find a good angle but maybe I'll be able pick their brains on shooting to the conditions.

Some other blocks came down last Sunday in another part of the city and because these ones were very near train lines they scheduled the demo for 2.30 a.m. The first I heard was when some (frankly mediocre) pictures were printed in the papers on Monday. I'm hoping they're not going to go the same way this time, it could make things a bit tough.

Josh66 · Jul 19, 2008

Resin42 said:
Some other blocks came down last Sunday in another part of the city and because these ones were very near train lines they scheduled the demo for 2.30 a.m.

Seems pretty late to be blowing stuff up...

Joves · Jul 19, 2008

Big thing is a shuttter speed of 1/250 or better and atleast an ISO of 400 but, 800 would be better. Or you can set the shutter to 1/250 and allow the camera to choose the aperture and, ISO. But if they do it at night then you are pretty much screwed, unless they have the site highly lit.

manaheim · Jul 19, 2008

Probably want to do a manual focus with a decent depth of field, too... f8-f11 maybe. I would be wary that the camera could not focus fast enough to get sharp pictures. Hyperfocal would be nice if you have the range finder on the lens.

Pokeguyjai · Jul 20, 2008

I shoot a lot of action pics, and in my experience getting a very nice sharp focus on the subject (the buildings) and getting blurring out the BG with a f~4 brings a lot of focus to the subject.

Continuous shooting is definitely a must, and FAST shutter speeds help, but at 2:30 in the morning brings into problem of sufficient light.

Josh66 · Jul 20, 2008

Pokeguyjai said:
but at 2:30 in the morning brings into problem of sufficient light.

I think that demo already happened. I think the one he's asking about is going to be mid-day.

I just thought it was kinda strange to take down a building in the middle of the night. Even if the explosives themselves aren't that loud (which I kinda doubt), the building falling to the ground will be.

Resin42 · Jul 21, 2008

Well that was an experience to remember, it was amazing watching the buildings come down unfortunately the photos are total guff as we were moved so far back as to make having a camera almost pointless. Manual focus did turn out to be the way to go as there was so much to draw the auto focus in the foreground and they still aint the sharpest.

Here's the best of the pics for what they're worth.

They sounded a klaxon at 5 mins and then at 2 and when the first charge went off it still scared the crap out of me. :lol:

We then had to run before we were consumed by the dust cloud. Not the best pics but definitely worth seeing and a good learning experience.

toofpaste · Jul 21, 2008

It's cool...too bad you couldnt have gotten better pics...but thats how it goes. It must have been a great expierence.

manaheim · Jul 21, 2008

hahahaha... wow that's really... funny.
If I didn't know what this was and you had omitted the last frame I would have been like "um... what are these pictures of... oh wait... why is that building getting smaller?"

toofpaste · Jul 21, 2008

manaheim said:
hahahaha... wow that's really... funny.
If I didn't know what this was and you had omitted the last frame I would have been like "um... what are these pictures of... oh wait... why is that building getting smaller?"

HA! "dude you have some serious sensor dust"

:biglaugh: