Happy New Year! I hope you have a healthy and prosperous 2012.
I had the very great pleasure of being able to watch the new year’s eve fireworks from my balcony this year. Whilst it wasn’t an uninterrupted view it was certainly worth not having to make too much effort to get there. I decided at the last minute to take some firework shots, never having bothered before. So I quickly set up my equipment and employed my best guesses and experience at what seemed the right thing to do. So these images are as much about my trial and error and what I learnt from the experience that I can now share with you.
Fireworks with building silhouetted
In this image the fireworks have been exposed for. To ensure the buildings are not blurred the camera is kept on a tripod. Manual focusing was used as it would be very difficult to get a steady focus with constantly moving fireworks. I employed the use of a Canon 70-200mm lens f2.8 at a focal length of approximately 70mm. I chose to use an aperture at f2.8 on the assumption that I needed to let as much light in as possible. As such I also chose a relatively high ISO of 800. But I have since learnt that good effects can be had at lower ISO’s of 100 and at apertures of say f8 or f11. It’s a matter of allowing a bit of time to experiment (length of firework display permitting). The atmosphere was pretty smokey but I think it adds to the urban scene along with the hazy street lamps.
Fireworks with buildings highlighted in post-production
I then played a little with the shot in post-production to bring out the buildings more. But does this detract from the fireworks? If your mission were to get a fully urban scene against the fireworks then this does the trick.
Fireworks in red with strongly silhouetted buildings
Firework fountain
I just kept my finger on the button and kept pressing so that I didn’t miss what was actually going on in front of me. Here the buildings have little definition but the chimneys and tree branches appear to reach into the display.
And what a magical display!
Please feel free to add your experiences and tips for taking firework photographs…..
Purple rain
