NY Harbor Fireworks...Again 5 Pics

[Jakkar]

For some reason we got a fireworks show tonight on the harbor. It sure is surprising when fireworks start going off outside your window.

[megan]

I'm so jealous I missed it! Maybe it was a test run for Independence Day?

Nice catch!

Megan

[Chunk]

For some reason we got a fireworks show tonight on the harbor. It sure is surprising when fireworks start going off outside your window.

Nice work. I especially like the second one with the silhouetted tower and bridge lights in the background. Gorgeous color on the water.

[PuckJunkey]

These are pretty cool indeed. Evidently a nearby town is holding a display of its own tonight and I was going to come and ask for some advice on focal lengths and shutter speeds.

I'm going to be fairly close (maybe a mile or so away, an more or less right "under" them for perception's sake). I was thinking set up a tripod in a nearby parking lot with either my 60mm F2.8 or with my 80-200 F2.8 and just start shooting at around 1/2 a second and see what I get at the lower focal lengths.

I don't mind some blurring if it has the effect of the golden burst in your shot above, but otherwise I'd like to try and "freeze the blast" as much as I can.

Suggestions?

[Chunk]

I don't mind some blurring if it has the effect of the golden burst in your shot above, but otherwise I'd like to try and "freeze the blast" as much as I can.

Suggestions?

If you try to 'freeze the blast' too much you end up with something like the first pic. I usually use about 4 seconds to get more of the 'petals' as they move out from the center like in the second pic. I also do not use a wide open aperture to try to keep from burning out all the color.
If you want to try something different, try panning or rotating the camera during exposure. I have a few like that in the special events gallery.
http://gallery.photographyreview.com...rt=1&perpage=9

[PuckJunkey]

Holy cow... those are cool! I guess I might be limiting myself by not hand-holding, even though the exposure time is very long? I suppose it's just light (like carlights on those time-exposures at night you always see on TV)... so no detail is lost by a little hand shake. Hopefully the show will last long enough for me to find the best shutter speed range.

Thanks Chunk!

[Chunk]

Holy cow... those are cool! I guess I might be limiting myself by not hand-holding, even though the exposure time is very long? I suppose it's just light (like carlights on those time-exposures at night you always see on TV)... so no detail is lost by a little hand shake. Hopefully the show will last long enough for me to find the best shutter speed range.

Thanks Chunk!

Believe it or not, those were on a tripod ( I've finally perfected the shaky tripod shot). I left the adjustments loose so I could pan and rotate the head. here are some handheld (well leaning against a lightpost) from the year before.
Since you don't have a lot of choice about where the fireworks go off, don't zoom in too tightly. Some really nice shots got chopped off from too tight a zoom. Shoot loose and crop if needed.
You'll find some nice fireworks shots in the archives of the viewfinder and critique forums from last July if they can be found.

[PuckJunkey]

Impressive. Maybe I'll try both hand-held and tripod mounted. I have large Graf ball-head so swivelling it around should be pretty easy.

[PuckJunkey]

...thought I was going to be close enough and took my 17-35 to a nice open area (though there were some street lights nearby)... not even close. Should've gone with the 80-200 and probably a different location. Ah well, at least my dog isn't stressing now that I'm back. She hates the noise from fireworks.

[Jakkar]

New York City had its weekly fireworks show last night and since I have taken so many plain ones I tried something different as well.

[Janie]

The first one looks like a palm tree or weeping willow - or an ice cream cone - depending on my mood! lol

Nice shots! I want to take some this year with my nikon 4300 coolpix digital - there is a fireworks mode on it so that should be interesting to try.

[PuckJunkey]

That last one is really impressive, both composition-wise and expsosure-wise. Nice shot.

[Chunk]

New York City had its weekly fireworks show last night and since I have taken so many plain ones I tried something different as well.

I wouldn't call your other shots plain, they are quite spectacular. These new ones are terrific. How did you take the middle ones? Zooming during exposure?
Nice work.

[Jakkar]

I actually went from 200 to 70 during a 1.5 second exposure.