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.
. (