canada day fireworks

[notelliot]

shooting fireworks never really interested me until this year. i don't know why, but i was really anxious to take some photos last night. 200 in 20 minutes. still doing raw conversions..

they're about 1.5 stops darker than i want them to print as, so i may bump them up a little. comments appreciated!

 

[tirediron]

I'm not sure about 1.5 stops under; I would suggest that if anything, the fireworks themselves are slightly over-exposed. There's no EXIF exposure data attached to your images; what apeture, ss, and ISO did you use? The shutter speed looks like it was pretty good, but all of the blown points in the firework blooms lead me to think you were open a little too far.

The proximity of the people is unfortunate, as they really detract from the images. I find that for good fireworks pictures, you either have to know a 'secret' spot, or get there early and stake out a prime piece of real-estate (I've been known to arrive 2-3 hours early) to avoid things like that.

 

[notelliot]

i was trying to keep the crowds in the frames, it conveys the idea of people gathering everywhere downtown to watch. as for exif, iso 400, f5.6-8, 1/8-1/20.

next year, i want to plan a better lighting setup to illuminate the crowds better.. personally, i find shots of fireworks blooms in a black sky pretty dull.

 

[tirediron]

i was trying to keep the crowds in the frames. as for exif, iso 400, f5.6-8, 1/8-1/20.

next year, i want to plan a better lighting setup to illuminate the crowds better.. personally, i find shots of fireworks blooms in a black sky pretty dull.

Settings are fine, in fact, your shutter speed is on the quick side if anything. I agree, it's always best to try and situate the fireworks relative to the ground, or something (tall buildings work too), but in this case where you have people actually blocking parts of the bloom, they seem to overpower the fireworks themselves.

 

[notelliot]

well, i guess i could have done the same thing the other 3 guys on that roof were doing, but instead opted for a different approach. thanks for your comments though