Colour and movement for the masses

[stubbsy]

Yep - I did Sydney NYE fireworks too. I was lucky enough to be at Garden Island Naval Base and UNLUCKY enough for a bloody big tourist boat to decide the 5,000 people on Garden Island mattered less than their few hundred passengers so they'd block the view of the bridge by moving back and forth in front of us grrrrr. I noticed that the fireworks were a lot noisier this year (more bangs for our buck I guess) which added nicely to the drama of the display.

Anyway here is the best I could manage (more HERE)

[wendellt]

Oddly enough I was at garden island too right next to the music stage

Anyway I like the big tourist boat in the first pic it gives the image more of a context than just the usual fireworks can provide anyway there's nothing interesting happening under the bridge usually

1st one is the best one

By the way where's all the penguin iceberg photos

[surenj]

Peter,

I didn't really notice a ship in #1. The fireworks are a good distraction itself.

The other shots, it would have been nicer to see the opera house also highlighted a little as it can be lost in business a little.

As you know my experience is alot less than yours so please educate me if I am wrong.
I am not so sure it's a good idea to use shutter priority when shooting fireworks. Your shutter could be longer and aperture smaller to capture more streaky trails.[especially highlighted in the last shot] I would be uncomfortable to let the camera decide on the aperture. [My camera is the worst one on this forum so maybe it can't be trusted.... ]

Also it's nice for the camera to stay at ISO200 incase you want to recover some shadows etc...

Please disregard this if you handheld your shots [if that's the case, ]

In anycase, I'd like to know your thoughts on this.

[zafra52]

Stubbsy, it's the second for me. I love the
colour and movement against the black.

[biggerry]

Peter, you have nailed the timing on these ones, I find that the hardest thing is to get right 2-6 sec bracket! irrespective of the camera settings if you do not time it right with the position of the fireworks then it will look crap. You also have some nice colour definition in these.

On the last one maybe a tighter crop on the main fireworkk bit and the bridge might work, go with the blue fireworks at the top right hand corner.

Did you use a tripod?

I was lucky enough to be at Garden Island Naval Base

please explain?

I never know where to find out how to get to the good spots - next year I might go hard and setup camp at mrs mac's chair.

[aim54x]

WOW...Peter these are amazing, you have nailed the timing!

Yes please do explain how to get to the good spots!

[Matt. K]

Just beautiful!

[surenj]

My understanding was that you need to pay (or have a pass) to get to certain vantage points? Is this true?

[stubbsy]

Thank you all for your feedback.

I am not so sure it's a good idea to use shutter priority when shooting fireworks. Your shutter could be longer and aperture smaller to capture more streaky trails.[especially highlighted in the last shot] I would be uncomfortable to let the camera decide on the aperture.

I chose shutter priority so I could control how blurry the fireworks trails would be and how bright my highlights would be. My experience from previous attempts is that in Aperture mode I too often ended up with blown highlights or overly dark images. YMMV

As for the venue - as it's a naval base Garden Island isn't open to the public - even for New Years.

By the way where's all the penguin iceberg photos

Wendell - I'm still working on them, but hope to have some samples and a trip commentary in the next week or so.

Did you use a tripod?

I took two bodies and two tripods. One was set up with the intervalometer in the camera taking a 1.5 second shot every 2 seconds continuously. I controlled the other camera firing the remote release when I anticipated a shot would work. Interestingly (or not) my shots came out with about twice the number of keepers as the auto fire camera did.

My understanding was that you need to pay (or have a pass) to get to certain vantage points? Is this true?

Absolutely. You could see the fireworks from Fort Denison at $1,200 per person for example. See HERE for details on all the vantage points paid and free.

[surenj]

Thanks Peter for the detailed answer on the technical aspects.

They created a iphone app for the NYE!! That's hilarious but I guess it's a great advertiser for all those unknown locations which seem to cater for the rich and the famous.

Some of those locations are interesting and it would be good to organise something for 2012...

[Murray Foote]

Great shots. I think my pick is #3.

Shutter priority? You're using automatic exposure with compensation and maybe even only a single exposure at probably somewhere between 1/2 and 5 seconds? Come to think of it, multiple manual exposures for a single image in-camera may not be too easy on many cameras.

I think the last time I took a fireworks shot was in 1987 and a very different process back then. No previews, of course. 5x4 camera on a heavy tripod on slide film. One piece of film exposed in total, I think, maybe one or two more and maybe not. Either multiple exposures or a single exposure with the lens obscured much of the time. No possibility of automatic exposure of course. Composition of fireworks with a large element of guesswork. I ended up with a good exposure with the audience well illuminated by the fireworks, probably more by luck than good management.