Marin Fireworks Photo

Photographer’s Note

We have good friends who live right near the Marin County Civic Center (Frank Lloyd Wright's only goverment building, by the way, and his last major design project; he died in 1959 while it was still under construction). On the Fourth of July the civic center hosts the Marin County Fair - I will post pictures of it soon - and the county fireworks in the evening. These fireworks are not as impressive as the San Francisco ones, but at least they can be seen. In most years the fireworks appear as this fuzzy glow in the fog, though last night it was clear enough. Also, the crowds in the city make it a lost cause to get anywhere near enough for good photos (unless you stake out a position like around 4 in the afternoon).

Still, the Marin show wasn't bad, plus we had a great view and excellent company. This scene is the finale, with a bit of the fair's ferris wheel in the background.

Technical: Cropped from vertical to horizontal. Some brushwork on the blown-out center area - just a touch at 25% opacity,using pink on the left and green on the right.

Note: Shooting fireworks is tricky. I started out at f/11 (standard for night shots, I've been told), but since I had to keep the shutter open for several seconds in order to get an interesting mix of fireworks, I was over-exposing. I kept experimenting during the show, ending up at f/22 as in this shot. ISO was 100 - always best.

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Critiques | Translate

kensimage (8541) 2008-07-05 12:18

Usually with night shots, of course, one wants to take them when the sky is still dark blue, not black. Another difficulty with fireworks is, that's almost never possible! So it's good you were able to include something like the lights at lower right, to give some context. The exposure looks just right, and the composition is good. So, well executed all around! Regards, Ken.

toto (18709) 2008-07-06 3:26

Bonsoir,
belle photo de ces feux d' artifices, j' espère que nous ferons aussi bien lors des feux du 14/07/2008 a Liege.
Jolie prise et belle couleurs de l' ensemble.

Amitiés Thomas
je reviens

ribeiroantonio (21913) 2008-07-06 4:09

I think that your f22 and ISO 100 worked well in here, even if the lower explosion looks a bit overexposed. I have done this one at f4, ISO 400, and the result is less spectacular on the explosions, I guess. Well done.
Antonio

feather (49860) 2008-07-06 5:27

I've never tried photographing fireworks but can imagine they must be fairly tricky as you need the long exposure for the trails, but the danger is, as you say, over-exposure. The inclusion of the Ferris wheel on the right gives a good balance to the composition. Well done
Kath

crckt (7074) 2008-07-08 18:05

Hi Dan,
A good shot of the fireworks, the overexposed part does not bother me. I like the mix of colors.
Thanks for sharing,
Shaeri