Yarra Fireworks shot

[pharmer]

Heres my rookie attempt at fireworks photography - the only 1 of 15 I'm happy with. A skyline of Melbourne also thrown in for good measure

Left the shutter open way too long on most

Also now pining after a much wider angle lens - 18mm on my D50 didn't cut it with the 1.6 crop ratio

Fire away with your comments and advice

[PiroStitch]

good stuff mate. can't see much wrong with that shot I take it you were on King St bridge? I wandered a bit further down towards Queen St Bridge. Will post up later - too tired right now.

[Greg B]

I like those shots pharmer, good work.

Does anybody know what the fireworks were about?

[pharmer]

Yep - shot from King St bridge - not a great position, lens wasn't wide enought to capture the Crown building and the fireworks

Fireworks were for Chinese New Year Greg - runs over a couple of weeks

Will post a couple of my failures later

Going to hunt down a good price on a 10-20mm Sigma

[avkomp]

done alright for a rookie attempt!!



love the colour in the second shot

Steve

[pharmer]

Heres a couple of the dud ones

Fireworks are overexposed - 10-15 sec exposure perfecty captures color and detail in the surrounding buildings and lights but burns out multiple fireworks explosions

3-8 seconds looks like the optimum time

[avkomp]

do a search on the forums here for fireworks techniques.

I described a method a while ago which was implemented by BBJ and perhaps others also.

essentially fireworks are very bright so themselves dont require long exposure.
you use low iso also because you dont want smoke in the shot.

If you leave for instance a 30 sec exposure for builidings or whatever, the fireworks would over expose the shot .
The trick is the expose for the background or prevailing scenery and keep the shutter open for a long time but covered with a dark card or hat or similar. you move the hat or card to expose a firework burst but cover between. this way you get multiple bursts without overexposure.
you just need to make sure then that you have enough exposure for the background stuff if it is present, just have a bit of a practice with this and have a look on the forums for some shots produced by members doing similar.

steve

[avkomp]

also if you use the method described in my last post you will avoid the burning tracer of the shell on its way up, if you wish to of course
and also avoid any muzzle flash from the mortars. again only if you wish to of course

steve

[pharmer]

Cool - thanks for that, had never thought of covering the lens

Cheers