I've always had trouble with fireworks - they just never look unique and interesting - I think this hybrid works and is more than your typical festival shot.

Fireworks is all about experimenting (and timing!). It takes alot of practise. These are pretty, though is that the ground at the bottom? Short firework anyway. They dont look overexposed to me, good job :) Though I think I would like to see the big one in full frame.

Thanks Beth. As it was I almost got this shot without having to patch two of them together, but didn't quite make it.

Fellow Eskimo: I think the biggest mistake I made was in trying to get the whole scene in the shot. Had I used my 70-200 instead I think I may well have got some more interesting shots.

Thats why you have an 8.2 MP camera, crop ;)

I hate cropping ;-)

Lovely shot(s). Thanks for sharing :)

i'd have tried to place the top bursts more central in the frame in this comp, just to balance it out a bit more. as it is i find the bias to the right hand side of the frame a little distracting.

also, it could just be my laptop monitor, but is there a bit of noise/pixellation where the reddish hint turns to dark black? could this be because of the iso/white balance

hope this is useful.

cheers

ben

ben: I'm not sure I can see the pixelation. As for placing the burst more centrally: yes, I guess I could have done, but even though this is a hybrid shot I left the two elements in their original locations. I quite like that it's not entirely balanced.

I like this, I've always had a problem w/ fireworks tho, with long exposures my sky is always a nice shade of blue that I can't really tweak with without killing the blue in the actual fireworks.

Well shot. The colors are very vibrant, especially in contrast to that black.

I think you did a pretty good job with this shot. I have tried to take firework shots and they never come out well. It looks like you also were in a great location.

great job on the firworks. These look perfectly exposed.

Either of these by itself would have looked fantastic to me; the juxtaposition makes them look even cooler.

Dave, this works just perfectly for me. In all honesty, photoshop or not, most photography is manipulated in one way or another.

My last attempt to shoot fireworks I took about 50 also, and I chose one that while it had some "burn" in the explosion center, the dispersion came out nice enough to please me. I believe shooting fireworks is as much skills as good luck because I am sure the dynamism and uniqueness of every light is almost impossible to be ready for, but almost means that some will be able to, and today you gave us a taste of what a good fireworks shot should be.

I don't mind the hybrid part of it, it is a beautiful image, and that is more than enough for me.

Fireworks, everything a nocturnal clasico.
Greetings

Looks good, my last attempt to capture fireworks went terribly with lots of burnt out trails etc. I think i also did the same as you and tried to get the whole scene in which is much more difficult, using a telephoto would probably have been a good idea. These are very nice though.

I love fireworks and always try to shot them... but, of course, my pics are not as cool as your! Great, I love the subject and the shot too. ;-)

Glad you explained how it was done 'cause I took a similar number of shot of fireworks over last weekend and none I was happy with.

Unfortunately all mine had to be hand held due curcumstance, and a few seconds is too long to be steady even holding a fence.

I tried shooting fireworks for the first time this summer. I took about 30 shots, varying the exposure between 3 and 30 seconds. I found that longer exposures allowed me to get far more fireworks in the frame, and shooting at small aperatures kept the highlights from being overblown too much. Indeed, there was some burning out, but it's tolerable and I was pleased with the results for my first try.

For what it's worth, the shots are here:
Picture #1 Picture #2 Picture #3

I would have taken the crop option. To crop or not to crop that is the question!

I recently had a go at taking a fireworks shot and I chose the crop option as (with your photo) it was only the central part that was interesting. The problem I have with fireworks photos is that I really feel like I'm shooting in the dark - bad joke I know. What I mean is that the results are so unpredictable - with most photos I have at least some idea of how the shot will turn out, but fireworks are a bit press and hope - in which case, can one take the credit?

looks very cool dave. did you use the technique of holding a card in front of the lens and removing it during the bursts for some of the shots? i tried it during the display we had here, but as it was my first time attempting, it was hard to avoid some of them getting blown out by keeping the shutter open too long.

think i may have done this one that way:
fireworks shot

ahhhh, i'm wondering when i gonna make that kind of photos... ;]

Great, Nice shot.

i cant take night shots properly at all! so this one impresses me a lot!

You can have fun with
fireworks.
Check this out for a straight
shot (yeah really!). Be warned though: you will not like it ;-)

Still looks good even with the photoshop tweaking. Fireworks are difficult to properly capture, I would imagine.

beautifully done... and very patriotic, in an american way ;)

I don't know, man... I like it. Like everything else here, it's better than my own efforts.

Thanks everyone. This is definitely something I'd like to try again next time I get the chance.

Portrait would have been much better. That said, the picture has very good colours.

Sorry I hadn't commented in a while, just came back from Athens...

Wow, perfect shot, that's impressive.

I wish that your fireworks used up a bit more of the frame, but at least you managed to avoid (or hide) the smoke. I've taken several hundred over the last couple of years, and smoke is a big problem for my shots. I haven't gotten the perfect shot, but here's one.

Some of the best successes I have had with fireworks is to leave the shutter open and then just cover the lens with a piece of black card when there are no shells going off and just remove it the bursting of each new one. Does that make sense?

However I do love the simplicity of this one and the decision to be in landscape mode.

It's the kind of photo I always wish I could take :o)