It's carnival time! Any tips?

[opus]

It's CARNIVAL time!

I'm planning to go over to our local county fair on Friday night, right around closing, to try to get some colorful night shots of the midway. I adore night shots, but I'm still learning how to make mine better. I want some shots of the rides in motion, and some shots after closing when the rides are still lit up, but stopped.

So does anyone have any tips or shots to share?


****dumb question alert****
And has anyone successfully captured those spotlights that wave in the night sky? For the past two nights the humidity in the air has made the light beams look great, but I can't capture those pillars of moving lights with a nighttime exposure, right?

[Charles Hess]

Though I've never done shots like you want to do, the no-brainer would be to have a tripod and using a slow shutter speed to blend the colors together from the neons on the rides. I'd avoid flash to let all of the different light sources on the midway be your illumination. I've seen some neat shots of the throngs of people appearing like ghosts, again using the tripod and slower shutter speeds. Enjoy, and be sure to post some pics.