4th of July, Independence Day for USA is popularly known for Fireworks displays in various cities in United States. I have been in US for last 3-4 years and have visited the Fireworks show every year. Last year, I went to Coe Lake, Berea to capture photos of Fireworks. Here are some of the pictures that I got last year.
I was happy with my shots when I reviewed them last year. But when I saw these pictures this year, I felt that something was missing and there was not enough in these fireworks shots to give them a 'wow' factor.
Here's what I thought were the problems with last years shots
So when I decided to go to Fireworks display this year, I wanted to overcome at-least some of these problems. I knew that there is no way to make my camera see what I am seeing with a single shot. I knew I had to make a composite. Now the only question was - Where should I go and shoot? After discussing with friends, we decided to go to Strongsville. We reached there about 9.15pm (45mins before fireworks) and I see a big grass field with tress almost 0.5 miles away. The sky is beautiful with a moon and lots of stars. I setup my tripod and took all the different shots of fireworks, moons and stars separately. I later came back home and during post-processing I combined those images to come up with this final image.
Now when I compare my last year's image with this image, I like this one better. There is certainly improvement, and that's what matters. As Tiger Woods say - "There’s always stuff to work on. You’re never there."
I was happy with my shots when I reviewed them last year. But when I saw these pictures this year, I felt that something was missing and there was not enough in these fireworks shots to give them a 'wow' factor.
Here's what I thought were the problems with last years shots
- Isolated Fireworks captured as long exposure.
- No foreground
- No background
- Pictures were more like - Fireworks on a black background
So when I decided to go to Fireworks display this year, I wanted to overcome at-least some of these problems. I knew that there is no way to make my camera see what I am seeing with a single shot. I knew I had to make a composite. Now the only question was - Where should I go and shoot? After discussing with friends, we decided to go to Strongsville. We reached there about 9.15pm (45mins before fireworks) and I see a big grass field with tress almost 0.5 miles away. The sky is beautiful with a moon and lots of stars. I setup my tripod and took all the different shots of fireworks, moons and stars separately. I later came back home and during post-processing I combined those images to come up with this final image.
Now when I compare my last year's image with this image, I like this one better. There is certainly improvement, and that's what matters. As Tiger Woods say - "There’s always stuff to work on. You’re never there."
