This is my second attempt at a fireworks picture, the one from last year went into the trash the very same day.
This time around I did much better, considering I only get a single shot a year.
Oh and Happy New Year 2019 all :-)
This is my second attempt at a fireworks picture, the one from last year went into the trash the very same day.
This time around I did much better, considering I only get a single shot a year.
Oh and Happy New Year 2019 all :-)
Love it! Is this multiple images composited or were there really that many fireworks at once? That's a crazy display!
Thanks Xander! Yep, it's composited, it's a small town and if I were to expose that long, the trails would all fade.
Wow! That is quite something!
I would suggest cropping out the road though - it doesn't add anything and you lose nothing by taking it away. Plus the orange glow at the bottom of the frame detracts from the lovely colour in the top. Otherwise totally gorgeous :)
Thanks David! Heaven forbid, I specifically wanted that road in (or any foreground with a leading line/curve, this is how far I got on foot before midnight and it had to do). Were I to crop out the road the image would look flat.
In this image every eye is going to go straight to the pretty colour and bright lights at the top, not the bottom. You already have the line of the street lamps that walk the eye down and into the distance so the foreground here is going to be the last thing you look at in any case. Besides, the line of the barrier does not lead toward it - it leads to the left and gets lost in an area of darkness
The other advantage is that the crop can fit on the screen more easily making all the lovely colour and detail in the sky much more immediatley obvious.
Just my opinion of course and I know how we all feel about our photos, but to me there's no question that I prefer the crop. It reminds me of a Leonid Afremov painting:
https://www.google.com/search?q=leonid+afremov&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X...
the warmth of the bottom makes for a nice contrast with the dark top
There's no right or wrong in photography, so every opinion is valid.
For me, your crop just goes to show what I already said: You now have a flat picture without any sense of focus. Where am I supposed to look? What is the subject here? My eyes immediately pick up the curve of street lights that leads to - nowhere at all and now they're lost in a sea of fireworks. It loses cohesion if you get my drift. That is the exact same mistake I made last year that lead to, uhm, immediate destruction ;-)
The picture you mention is similar, agreed, but there is one striking difference and that is that it has a subject (that person) and the bright lines (lights and reflection) point directly to it. In my picture the lights lead into the distance, but not to the actual subject, which is the fireworks. The road does that, which you cropped away.
What's more, the lights complement the curve of the road so that the viewer can immediately guess where that road leads, it doesn't matter that part of the curve is in darkness or otherwise hidden from view: The brain fills in the missing parts. This is called continuation (an array of points arranged in the shape of a circle is perceived as a circle, even though there is no circle there).
The lights also complement the fireworks because of the starburst I applied, they're little fireworks themselves.
Needed to create another comment as I can't add pictures when editing. Look at this image of mine, according to what you said it would work better if I cropped the bottom away, because the castle is the brightest part of the image and my eyes would jump right to it anyway.
But that's not how it works. Foreground is important when there are no other clues for depth, it doesn't have to be interesting.
Please don't assume my comments about one photo are applicable to another. They are in reference exclusively to your first shot and should not be interpreted as 'rule making'. Every photo works in a different way. This is a completely different composition and no, I would not make the same suggestion.
Personally I don't think flatness is inherently bad. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. Meh, it's photography so what else is new? ;)
No worries, I'm perfectly fine with that ;-)
Damn Thorsten starting off with a bang great shot
Thanks Joseph, I'm quite happy with this shot I have to admit ;-)
WOW!!! I LOVE IT!! I'm just getting started in all this photography stuff and this photo is absolutely gorgeous. I don't know much of what i'm talking about but i would not change that picture at all!! it is absolutely stunning and gorgeous how it is. Even if the road doesn't give or take anything in some opinions. It kinda does. if you would've just posted the sky i would've pictured the roads and grass outside those houses with people watching and cars on the road. But no one is outside, watching the jaw dropping fireworks, they are inside watching idiot boxes most likely, and that's sad cause they missed this beautiful show that you captured. Amazing job!!!!
Thanks Shia, I feel exactly the same! It doesn't matter how much experience you have in photography, that only comes into play if your picture doesn't work and you need to find out why (or if you want to repeat that formula for a future picture).
Your first impulse is important, so you did the exact right thing. The road doesn't seem important to some but it is, it gives depth and direction.
As for the people, they're all in the backyards putting up this very show ;-) However, I like this interpretation of yours :-)
Great concept, and a lovely shot! Nice work!
This is a pretty nice shot for your second go at it. Furthermore, the spread you’ve made of the fireworks is great, it doesnt look too unrealistic, which I find a lot of people struggle with. I also quite like the leading line. The only thing I’m not huge on is the location. I hope you can find a cleaner or more interesting location next year. Similar to sunsets and sunrises, fireworks require a lot a of scouting and it’s best to arrive as early as possible. I usually scout my location 2 weeks or so in advance (just using google maps) and arrive a few hours early to beat the crowds (and even that’s considered late here).
Still, some nice work here! I think if more pros tried to photograph fireworks they would realize it’s not as easy as it looks to take portfolio level photos and would stop categorizing them as a “cliche”.
Thanks Jordan, and spot-on comment. The trouble with scouting for fireworks is, you don't always know if there will be enough fireworks to start with. Once you've decided on a location that's it, you can't just go somewhere else because there is no time, pretty much like with sunset/sunrise, with the added challenge of not getting a second chance in that year. I know, the location isn't exactly ideal, it's because I was on foot and with midnight approaching I had to be careful not to walk too far from a potential location. I have an idea for 2020 already, but that will (obviously) have to wait.
Yeah, at my first event in 2017 I had my camera pointing in the wrong direction, haha. I had to quickly fumble around in the dark to set up in a new spot. I feel lucky to live near Tokyo, we have a ton of events every year (I went to five in 2018). The hardest questions for me are “is the weather going to hold up” and “if I run back to the station as fast as I can, will I be able to beat the other 600,000 people” haha.
Beautiful! I may have cropped a little tighter at the bottom, but I like the curve of the rail. It mimics the curve in the fireworks.