Experiment

Last night I had the change to do something few folks ever have the chance to do....go behind the scenes and up close to the World's Largest Musical Fountain in Grand Haven, MI. Keep in mind that the fountain basin is 250' long and more than 100' wide and water spray reaches 125 feet (38 meters) above the basin.

This is one of the images I came away with last night, pure experiment, hand held, f5.6 @1/3 second ss, using a 28-135mm lens. The view you see here is only the center portion of the fountain. Next time I'll be sure to use an 18-55mm lens.

Toni, I never heard of the " World's Largest Musical Fountain " judging by the image you have it's safe to say it is large, but still hard to imagine 250' long. I like the orange colored water a lot and I would have to agree next time take the 18-55 as well. I also wouldn't mind seeing an image of this without the basin in it just the water spray and a little tighter crop.

Nice image, Toni and thanks for sharing

Thanks, Robert.

The basin was included in most of the shots I experimented with last night...there was no way to back up far enough without falling down the dune the fountain sits on.

Next Thursday I'll be shooting it from the "normal" view, as the public sees it, from the other side of the Grand River and will post the results. Oh yes....I WILL be using my tripod for those shots!

Very cool. I was going to suggest you use a tripod, but I see that is your plan. Any particular reason you couldn't use a tripod here?

Thanks, Josh.

I did use my tripod to begin with, but quickly gave that up as I was too limited in my shots.. It was much easier to compose and move around inside the limited space we had once the show started, without the tripod. Besides, this was the first time I had tried shooting the fountain with digital and I really needed to see how far I could push it.

Cindy, I'll be glad to take you to see the fountain. It's not Vegas, but the colors and movements are fantastic! Every night a different theme is used for the fountain music.

If anyone is interested in seeing the fountain, click here for more info, including the schedule.

Beautiful! I thought of the Statue of Liberty's crown when I first saw it. We may come over later this month for the Coast Guard Festival, I'll have to check out the fountain then.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



JG

Thanks Dave. If you decide to come for the Coast Guard Festival on the last day, be prepared to come early (before 11:00 a.m.!), find a parking spot, along with a spot to watch the fountain and fireworks for that evening, and fight the crowds. Did I mention a parade that starts around noon?? Actually, I would highly recommend coming earlier in the week...GH gets to be a madhouse on that weekend with probably close to 150,000 (mostly) tourists!

Jack....thanks, but, you should really see it in person...I will try to do the fountain more justice on Thursday night.

This is cool Tony, but I think a tripod would help too.

Cindy, there is a lot of stuff around Vegas that is interesting, I would land there and leave town. I was just out that way, but I didn't have much time to look around.