On the Bridge Photo

Photographer’s Note

A bridge between two countries is not a rare thing where I live, but just downstream from Basel this bridge is a new feature to the Rhine. At 250m in length it is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world and links the French town of Huningue with the German Weil am Rhein.

On Saturday this special firework display was held to celebrate the official inauguration of the Dreiländerbrücke. Although it has already been much in use for the last three months, a weekend of celebrations took place to mark officially the new link between two countries. The foundations on each bank of the river had been in place for some time, but the bridge itself - which I can see from my workplace – seemed to appear overnight.

This is not my best photo – the fireworks are overexposed and it’s difficult to know how to improve things without losing all the detail of the surroundings. I used the RAW file to make two different exposures and then combined them with Photomatix software. With my tripod set up on the river bank I took rather a lot of shots but most were out of focus (autofocus didn’t like the dark and manual focus was difficult too in the dark, especially after a few drinks!!). I hope you enjoy it anyway.

oldsock, jlmf, errorist, linask, euryan, bibiweb, PixelTerror, cherryripe, Muse has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

oldsock (575) 2007-07-03 12:26

Hi Susanna!

Amazing night photograph of this beautiful fireworks + interesting comment!

Good job!

Best regards
Matt

jlmf (968) 2007-07-03 12:40

Bonsoir Susanna,
Ho purée, ça doit être dure à faire c'est truc là!
Les feu d'artifice sa bouge, moi avec mon appareille je ne sais même pas prendre un éclaire. Tu te rencontre? Franchement ça en jette le ciel vert qui se reflette sur l'eau, le pont et les personnes en ombres chinoises. Cette photo est vraiment intéressante.
Amitié d'Ensival
Joss
PS Ici aussi y plus beaucoup de soleil, mais beaucoup de pluie depuis quelques jours.

errorist (650) 2007-07-03 12:53

Spectaculair nightshot and excellent pp. The bridge with the people is a nice detail.

linask (2829) 2007-07-03 14:36

Really nice fireworks.
I think even with 2 raw conversion it would not be possible to have both fireworks and the bridge properly exposed. You handled exposure very well here.
Focusing should not be too difficult with ultra-wide lens. The way I usually deal with focusing at night is - set lens to autofocus, point camera to some really bright light at the same distance as the main subject and focus to it. Then switch lens to manual focus and try not to touch zoom or focus ring for a while. That way you can take advantage of camera autofocus but there is no need to focus for each shot.

Linas

euryan (8355) 2007-07-03 18:43

Great work combining the two exposures. It looks really nice. The composition is perfect with the fireworks exploding over the bridge and the river. I really like the monochromatic color scheme as well. Well done Susanna.
Regards,
Ryan

bibiweb (8) 2007-07-03 21:27

Salut Susanna,
Effectivement les feux sont surexposés, mais j'avoue que cela n'est pas trop choquant sur cette image et comme je n'ai encore jamais photographié de feu d'artifice, ce n'est pas moi qui vais critiquer et te dire comment tu aurais pu mieux faire!
Hormis ceci, j'aime bien ton cadrage vertical et la façon dont tu as inclus le pont en bas de l'image avec la foule que l'on distingue dessus.
Bonne journée.
Bibi

PixelTerror (87159) 2007-07-04 1:57

Salut Susanna,
C'est vrai que tes hautes lumieres sont un peu chaudes mais la nettete c'est quand meme qqch d'essentiel et ici tu l'as, bien cadre ce bouquet aussi, ce que je trouve le plus amusant dans cette image c'est cette couleur verte qui se repand, ca fait tres... euh... chimique ;-) Bon j'arrete sinon on va encore dire que je denigre ma boite preferee !
Bonne journee,
JEan-Yves

dkeus31 (26497) 2007-07-04 3:16

bonjour susanna,
Ben elle est plutôt réussie cette image!
j'espère en faire autant le 14 à Liège :o)
bonne journée
didier

toto (18783) 2007-07-04 4:38

Belle photo de ce feu d' artifice au dessus du pont, jolies couleurs et beau reflets. Amitiés Thomas

fayeulle (26547) 2007-07-04 5:01

Salut Susanna
Je vois que tu vas à l'étranger ! Bon, sur le plan photographique j'aurais bien vu un f/5.6 voir un f/8. Le résultat est néanmoins tres bon. Pas facile les photos de feu d'artifice, surtout si as picolé !
Amicalement
Jp

cherryripe (19237) 2007-07-04 10:02

Hi Susanna
Fireworks are always difficult with or without a tripod. Toni and I were on the balcony Saturday night as there were some good ones by the lake. We both had sharp ones but unlike here, we didn't have good surroundings which is also important. The bridge with the silhouettes of the people is a great inclusion and I like the emerald green colour.
Regards
Nikki
P.S. I sent you an email yesterday.

Muse (31111) 2007-07-05 6:32

Hello Suzanna,
Oh la belle verte! :-)
Jolie vue de ce feu d'artifice. Genre de photo qui ne doit pas être facile et tu as bien réussi.Le pov est bien choisi et j'aime bien les gens sur le pont.Très jolie lumière.
Je te joins un petit WS,souvenir des Fagnes :-)
Excellente fin de journée
Denise

[workshop] [compare] +

feather (50480) 2007-07-06 9:11

It's not easy to take firework photos, but this seems like such an auspicious occasion any defects should be secondary. Interesting to see all the people on the bridge with an excellent vantage point.
Kath