First try at Wishes

This was my first attempt at Wishes. My wife and I took our girls to the Desert party and I figured I would set up the tripod. I have never attempted Wishes before mainly because with the little ones we are exhausted and we head back to the room early.


Wishes by Harry Shields, on Flickr

 

I Like the comp, the Sharpness of foreground and the people on the bridge, which gives a sense of scale to the fireworks. Did you use an ND filter?

But the bursts clash with each other, instead of blend. Like the red burst in the right hand side, hiding behind the "Wall of Fire". Looking at the EXIF data from flickr, try shooting at a shorter exposure, like 4-6 seconds instead of 9. Or even shorter if you open up the aperture. That way you get burst that blend, instead of clash. Wishes doesn't really blend well in my opinion. But has some great scenes that are fine on their own!

I do like the photo though, very sharp! and i kinda like the smokey bits too! Just not the burst combinations thats all!

 

I see what you mean about scenes clashing. I hadn't studied the show on YouTube so I was trying to wing it. I should have tried faster shutters but inexperience shows. I didn't use a ND filter but shot at iso 80 and f14-16.

 

For a first try this is really good! ; You got the castle exposed correctly and that can be a bear to get right so good job on that! The foreground objects are nice and sharp so again good job on that. You got a lot of bursts in such a short exposure so that was really good. Most of us are using Neutral density filters to keep the shutter open longer to get more bursts but you managed to do it in 9 seconds.

There are many different ways to shoot the Fireworks. As for what works for me, the thing I always try to think about when shooting Wishes is to leave the shutter open longer whenever you have the colorful fireworks in the sky. ; Then as soon as you see those bright white phosphorus ones start up you close the shutter and wait until they are over OR start a new exposure right away that captures the white ones. Those bright white ones are no good for your FW shots unless YOU decide that that's what you are after. ; If you have kept the shutter open and have captured the colorful ones.... when those white ones are released they tend to blow out your image so I recommend closing the shutter.

All that being said there is an art to capturing the Fireworks and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For a first try I think you did really well! Keep trying and read up on what other folks have to say about shooting the Fireworks. You'll find that each time you do it you'll get more experience about what works for you and what you didn't like and how to avoid it.

Even those of us who try to shoot the Fireworks time and time again can get different results from the same show. It's the timing of the shutter release. the length that the shutter is open and the settings of the camera. Then there is position of your camera with respect to the show, the type of lens you are using and even the weather!

Shooting Fireworks is trickier than it looks. For a first try you got a ton of stuff right so you are well on your way to becoming a fireworks Master! Keep going!

~Joanie

 

Thanks Joanie for your critique and all if the info. I did close the shutter as soon as the white bursts came up because I knew they would blow out the whole scene. But I really wanted them for the light on the castle. Next trip I'll give it another try and hopefully get better.

Harry