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Practical Digital Photography for Beginners - Shooting Fireworks
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Feb 24, 2019 02:36:31   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
With the process posted earlier ( https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-575239-1.html ), I photographed some fireworks.

1. The tools i used;
Nikon D610 with 24-85 kit lens
Tripod
2&3. I am working overseas and there is a light festival in a park near where i stay. I could hear the fireworks at night and knowing the place well, i imagined and conceptualized the photo that i want to capture.

4. My Hero/Story is a mosque highlighted with fireworks.
5. Final composition will be done in post as i can not really tell what i will get. The fireworks will be totally random so i just made space for it. I zoomed/framed it according to the clutter (trees etc) around the mosque.
6. a. White balance set to auto
b. ISO set to 100 to avoid as much noise as possible
7. I pre focused on the Mosque as that is my main subject with f/8. Being about a hundred feet away, this means the fireworks will be in focus as well.
8. To keep it steady, i had the camera on a tripod and i also delayed the shutter for 2 seconds. The lens Anti-vibration (VR) is left ON as the cheap tripod was wobbly. It was too flimsy for the heavy D610.
9. I made some test shots before the fireworks came on and thru chimping i found 3 seconds to be the optimal shutter speed.
10. It was not so much as adjust but ADAPT because i have a delay of 2 seconds before the shot and also a delay of 4 seconds before the camera can shoot again. I had to learn quickly the tempo of the skyburst so i can time my shot to get the beginning of the blooms.
11. During the whole shoot, i sometimes moved the whole setup laterally several feet - Camera & tripod left and right to get the better composition with the fireworks. Having everything in manual & already adjusted, as long as i move perfectly laterally, everything remains in set & in focus. I just move then click away.The whole show was not that long so i have limited shots. The initial prep proved to be the icing as most of the shots were very good even though i kept changing locations.
12. As foretold, The final image was edited for final composition. This was done in Photoshop. 3 main things were done.
a. Cropped and distortions removed.
b. On 3 of the photos, blooms were stacked to create a better composition.
c. Saturation, Color & Vignette was adjusted or added
d. Done but was not really necessary- sharpening of the image

And here are the images:

Majaz Park, Sharjah U.A.E.


(Download)


(Download)


(Download)


(Download)

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Feb 24, 2019 03:20:24   #
saxman71 Loc: Wenatchee
 
What you did certainly worked. These are terrific fireworks images with the Mosque as the centerpiece. Stacking these is a great idea. The last one is out of this world good.

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Feb 24, 2019 04:38:12   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
saxman71 wrote:
What you did certainly worked. These are terrific fireworks images with the Mosque as the centerpiece. Stacking these is a great idea. The last one is out of this world good.


Thank you for the kind remarks.

Only the first 3 images were stacked. The one you liked the most was a Luck-Moment. It was only cropped and then enhanced.

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Feb 24, 2019 06:01:02   #
RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia
 
Super set.

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Feb 25, 2019 04:01:25   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
RichardTaylor wrote:
Super set.


Thank you.

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Feb 25, 2019 07:09:55   #
Stan W. Loc: Tampa, Fl
 
Wonderful!

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Feb 25, 2019 09:16:09   #
gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast
 
Very nice shots. Next time try to get some head space at the top. That really helps, at least in my opinion.

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Feb 25, 2019 12:09:43   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
Wallen wrote:
Thank you for the kind remarks.

Only the first 3 images were stacked. The one you liked the most was a Luck-Moment. It was only cropped and then enhanced.


That last image belongs on a calendar. Don't sell yourself short. Luck had nothing to do with a shot this special. Some one said that luck happens when opportunity meets preparation. You were prepaired and took advantage of the opportunity.

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Feb 25, 2019 14:08:01   #
bertloomis Loc: Fort Worth, Texas
 
Good work.

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Feb 26, 2019 12:15:47   #
raymondh Loc: Walker, MI
 
Thanks for documenting how you produced these magical images!

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Feb 26, 2019 23:28:07   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
gvarner wrote:
Very nice shots. Next time try to get some head space at the top. That really helps, at least in my opinion.


Thanks. That is a valid suggestion and i did try to give as much space as possible(see step 5). Unfortunately i can only adapt to the circumstance and the best composition i can pull-out of it requires cutting off the fireworks.

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Feb 26, 2019 23:30:38   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
Stan W. wrote:
Wonderful!


Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

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Mar 3, 2019 00:47:41   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
boberic wrote:
That last image belongs on a calendar. Don't sell yourself short. Luck had nothing to do with a shot this special. Some one said that luck happens when opportunity meets preparation. You were prepaired and took advantage of the opportunity.


Thank you

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Mar 4, 2019 08:58:58   #
Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas
 
You can't get any better than these. Great job!

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Jun 25, 2019 08:15:35   #
National Park
 
Excellent work.

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