This is from the Trafalgar 200 year celebration on Britains South Coast.

Comments please

Maybe just me (i suck anyway) but the people in the bottom are a tad distracting. What settings did you use to capture this? I have not really tried not shots yet, and wouldn't know where to begin for a subject such as this.

Actually I find the people at the bottom to be a nice balance to the night sky. I like the composition and the fireworks you captured are nice. However this photo is lacking in color? (saturation). I think you could get more out of this photo if the fireworks really popped off the page. Also if you brightened the water maybe it would bring out the ships a little more?
I like the photo it just needs a little bit more work (darkroom / PS) to make it great.
Cheers.

[QUOTE= However this photo is lacking in color? (saturation).
Also if you brightened the water maybe it would bring out the ships a little more?
I like the photo it just needs a little bit more work (darkroom / PS) to make it great.
Cheers.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the feedback - Here is the saturated version and also tried to bring out the ships not sure I succeded. I'm not that proficient with the tools yet.

Maybe just me (i suck anyway) but the people in the bottom are a tad distracting. What settings did you use to capture this? I have not really tried not shots yet, and wouldn't know where to begin for a subject such as this.

Payne817 sorry forgot to add -

Taking this photo was not the way I would normally approach this shot.

1. there was not room for a monopod let alone a tripod so normal rules went out the window.

2. I have learnt through experimentation and I always take loads of shots on the night.

3. Autofocus goes out the window - prefocus manually on something at about the right distance first - middle ship for me.

So finally on the night it was hand held at F2.8 at 1/8sec. Because of the water the brightness was better than normal so I could get away with such high speed. Focal length was about 38mm No flash.

Hope that helps

I watched that on the news last night, 250 000 people turned up, WOW! I actually like the silhouettes of the people in front, but I'm disappointed that you can barely see the ships. Perhaps if you had been closer you might have gotten a better photo. On the plus side, I like the colours. :)

Much better. This really makes the photo seem more exciting, the other is dull in comparision.
I like how the water reflects the firework's colors more and the dramatic seperation between the reflections. I don't know anything about PS, so I'm not sure if you could bring the boats out any better?
I like it - nice solid shot.
Cheers

Hello Roger
Considering the conditions and the fact that you hand held the camera I think this result is remarkable. The audience is great (and a must inclusion) and lovely to see the lcd screens of some of their cameras as they compose their shots. I have no problem with lack of colouring but the saturated one is also great. Excellent.
Tom

Told ya I don't know what i am doing, LOL. Yeah, the info helps, mostly i was wondering about apeture and shutter speed. That is great, and handheld makes it awesome.

For a hand held shot this is great, nice work. Oh crop out the people in the foreground, mite improve it some. But still very nice.

Great job, roger. The second one a big improvement not only with the increased saturation and brilliance, but also the inclusion of the crowd. Seeing the silhouettes of the people there really put the display into full awe. Good stuff

Gary,

Thanks for the comment - I realised I got 2 possibles out of 22 shots taken I expected none so it was a great bonus.

For those who want the crowed cropped out - I will post one later but to me it looses some of the atmosphere of the event but that could be because I was there.

For those who wanted the people cropped