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Practical Digital Photography for Beginners - Shooting Fireworks
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Jun 30, 2019 09:49:58   #
Redmond Loc: Oregon
 
Great pictures!!!!!

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Aug 19, 2019 15:04:03   #
Umnak Loc: Mount Vernon, Wa.
 
Wallen wrote:
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.
With the process posted earlier ( https://www.ugly... (show quote)


Thank you for such a detailed explanation. I fit the title of beginner and appreciate the "how" along with the phenomenal, final image. STUNNING WORK!!

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Aug 19, 2019 23:11:46   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
raymondh wrote:
Thanks for documenting how you produced these magical images!


Thank you.
It was a follow up to an earlier post- https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-575239-1.html
And this is related to the last image- https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-584700-1.html

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Jul 6, 2020 11:11:04   #
TreborLow
 
One thing I learned might also be useful. If you are within about 1,000 feet of the display, you can hear the mortar shoot before the burst appears. I set my camera on a tripod, and set it on Bulb and have a remote trigger or release. (Some settings keep the shutter open as long as you hold the release and others require one click to open and another to close. Both can work.) Now I can react to the mortar sound, and get the blast and as much falling embers as I want before closing the shutter. I can also keep it open for the next blast based on the intervals between displays. Often, I hear the next mortar before the previous display is over and I can add to a rather small display or keep generous one from getting too confusing. The option for stacking is always there.
Have fun and stay safe,
Bob

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Jul 7, 2020 00:16:04   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
TreborLow wrote:
One thing I learned might also be useful. If you are within about 1,000 feet of the display, you can hear the mortar shoot before the burst appears. I set my camera on a tripod, and set it on Bulb and have a remote trigger or release. (Some settings keep the shutter open as long as you hold the release and others require one click to open and another to close. Both can work.) Now I can react to the mortar sound, and get the blast and as much falling embers as I want before closing the shutter. I can also keep it open for the next blast based on the intervals between displays. Often, I hear the next mortar before the previous display is over and I can add to a rather small display or keep generous one from getting too confusing. The option for stacking is always there.
Have fun and stay safe,
Bob
One thing I learned might also be useful. If you ... (show quote)


Using a remote trigger for fireworks is a very good technique. Unfortunately, at the moment of my capture i had none. So i went for the Timer Delay in order to eliminate motion blur.

At about 1000ft the sound delay would be almost 1 second while the light is instantaneous. Meaning the fireworks had already happened before you hear it.
If you use the sound to initiate capture, you are actually capturing a different event.
What you unconsciously did is actually the same as i have done -Judging the tempo of the show.
This works best when the show is accompanied by music. The big blooms usually happens on the heavy beats and finale so are easier to predict.

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Jul 21, 2020 09:29:12   #
2th Loc: Tehran
 
Marhaba !

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May 27, 2021 15:12:39   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
2th wrote:
Marhaba !



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May 27, 2021 15:31:12   #
kinmor1000 Loc: South-East Wisconsin, USA
 
In my opinion....a masterpiece! Great job and incredibly reward for your efforts, most especially the sometimes boring prep work.

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Aug 17, 2021 04:05:56   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
Umnak wrote:
Thank you for such a detailed explanation. I fit the title of beginner and appreciate the "how" along with the phenomenal, final image. STUNNING WORK!!


Thank you.
These other post might be interesting too.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-575239-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-584700-1.html

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Aug 17, 2021 04:06:15   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
bertloomis wrote:
Good work.


Thanks

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Aug 17, 2021 04:06:59   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
Jim-Pops wrote:
You can't get any better than these. Great job!


Thank you. Given the circumstance and limited tools, it went well.

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Aug 17, 2021 04:07:12   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
National Park wrote:
Excellent work.


Thanks

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Aug 17, 2021 04:10:48   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
kinmor1000 wrote:
In my opinion....a masterpiece! Great job and incredibly reward for your efforts, most especially the sometimes boring prep work.


Thank you very much. I guess the prepwork made it a success.

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Jan 16, 2022 15:42:36   #
Chock A Locka Loc: My imagination
 
Last shot is definitely a wall hanger.

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Jan 17, 2022 08:03:04   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
Chock A Locka wrote:
Last shot is definitely a wall hanger.


Thank you.

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