Fireworks anyone?

This was my first real effort on fireworks. Even though I did some scouting, I couldn't find much of a foreground to work with so I pretty much stuck with the stuff in the sky.


7D, 50 1.2L, 6s, ISO 100, f11 or f16, manual everything, tripod and release---these are cropped up to 50% because I was fairly far from the action (less people and lights). This was also the first time I gave the 50 1.2 a serious workout----I am very pleased with this lens---so far.


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Nice Bob, clean and colourful, you would have to be happy with that 50mm.


I like the red, but then, the green is good too.


Steve

From Little Rock, 5D2 16-35mm II. Lens IQ kind of disappointed me tonight.


Early evening when I got there, beautiful day with a semi cool breeze. If it would have been anything like the last 2 weeks it would have been miserable to be out there.


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6005/...8997bac8_b.jpg downtown little rock by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6132/...bf5da7cb_b.jpg Little Rock fireworks 2011 by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]


Some backyard fireworks that my neighbor puts on each year the day before. 40D and the 15mm fisheye lens.


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6027/...efac4f11_b.jpg country fireworks by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]

I played around with some fireworks too. Got to the field (in Bridgeton, Missouri) and realized that I didn't pack my tripod. Woops. Here's some shots from the camera resting on my belly while I held my breath. Fortunately, my belly is big enough for a camera and a beer! I haven't shot fireworks in about 10 years, and my one suggestion for the people shooting the fireworks these days is to space them out a little bit. Where I was at it was almost impossible to get shots of single fireworks or good groupings b/c they just kept shooting them off to close together.


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Here are a couple of mine.


Swansboro North Carolina Fireworks Display.
Taken from across and up river on the Cedar Point Nature Trail.


Canon EOS 50D w/EF 100-400mm L.


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Great pictures everyone. Definitely giving me something to shoot for.....





This was also my first attempt at photographing fireworks....Here are a few I liked:


A neighbor's fireworks on July 3rd


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A local town's (Chester, NH??) in the distance..on July 3rd.


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Derry, NH


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I am headed to Portsmouth, NH's tonight....:)

Great Shots--all. Sure glad to see some of you had the chance to get out and shoot some fireworks this weekend, and a great job by all. I had some trouble with my original posting--my pictures kept disappearing--but I uploaded from a different source, so maybe they will stay this time.


Thanks again for sharing,


Bob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by freelanceshots

From Little Rock, 5D2 16-35mm II. Lens IQ kind of disappointed me tonight.

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Freelance, the IQ seemed ok to me, the only suggestion I have is to see if lens correction would help with the wide angle distortion in the city shot---you may have already tried---just curious?





Bob

Lens distortion correction was done per this specific lens through CS5 plugin software. As far as trying to correct the vertical lines I went as far as I felt comfortable where the image started to become unnatural with more perspective correction which was maxed out. Even more cropping in the corners would have been needed where I did not want to loose any more of the original image. I restretched the image to compensate for the compression but the fireworks where being shot so high in the sky on some of the shots and the explosions where so big that I had to aim my camera up to even greater angles which increased distortion even more. I made a judgement call to do this as I was maxed out on the mm and no room to move. On the full res image viewed on a large screen you can see the lens struggling in certain areas for sharpness. When you drop its size down for use on the web these details get harder to notice. If I where to print this to a nice size I would be able to see the deficiencies. I bet the 14-24 ED Nikon lens would have really helped this image in the full frame sharpness department.





Here is one where I did not have to adjust the camera angle to capture the full view so less perspective correction needed.


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6045/...791afd73_b.jpg Little Rock fireworks by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]

Talk about a large and bright combination of explosions. I'm just now going through the images from yesterday. Probably one of the better displays I've seen in Little Rock.


[View:http://community.the-digital-picture...neric/utility/http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/...6c43beb7_b.jpg the final act by freelanceshots, on Flickr:550:0]