Before I get any further, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for the nice comments about my last set of photographs taken during the American presentation of the
L'International Des Feux Loto-Québec. I was feeling kind of
frustrated with the whole experience so far this year, but the many kind words left by others over at my
Facebook Page made me see that I was maybe being a little bit rough on myself. Once again, my Lovely Assistant was right. I suppose that I should be used to that by now. Getting back to the now, there's another show tonight and that means I had better get the photographs that I took on Wednesday night up here. The Country providing he explosions his time was Croatia. Despite the previously mentioned kind words, I had already planned on returning to a site that I had used last year to photograph this show. I guess I wanted to make sure that I'd end up with the immediate rush of feeling good about my photographs rather than waiting to get that rush through the comments of others. Not that I don't love your comments, keep them coming. This location provided me with a shot that I felt was good enough to be shown during my photography exhibition last year, but ended up being way more popular than I
had thought. It went home with three people. For those of you who may not remember, or are new to the blog, you can see that photograph
here. Following that link will allow you to see the photo in question, and also read a little bit about the background behind what led me to taking it. You'll also find a link there to the website of
Bernard Brault, a photographer for newspaper
La Presse. Or you could also follow the links I just provided. In any case, Bernard Brault deserves a second link, as those of you who read the other story will know. Theses photographs were taken from a pedestrian overpass that is located over Taschereau Blvd. I like it for two reasons. From that specific location you get a great view of the fireworks going off in the sky as well as an impressive light show caused by using a slow shutter speed of the cars that are passing on the road. It's also a good vantage point to on how bad some of the local drivers are. Though some of the more outrageous lane changes didn't make the final cut for this bunch of photos, I can tell you that I saw some moves that made me wonder if driver's licences were once again being offered for free in boxes of Cracker Jack. My nerves were also a little on edge while taking these photos as I kept having
this bad feeling that my camera was going to somehow slip off of the tripod and go crashing to the highway below where it would then be crushed by a passing 18-wheeler in a scene right out of a movie as I stood from up high and could only watch. This did not happen, but it still caused my knees to shake a few times whenever I would accidentally brush against the tripod or if there would be a sudden gust of wind. Nothing like some irrational fear to get your heart rate going. Getting back to the photos you see here, they were all shot using a long shutter speed. In order of appearance, here are the settings that I used. The first photograph was shot at f/9, 6sec, ISO 100 at 140mm. The second photograph was taken at f/9, 9sec, ISO 100 at 130mm. Photograph number three was taken at f/9, 7sec, ISO 100 at 130mm and the final photograph was taken at f/9, 6sec, ISO100 at 130mm. Shooting at f/9 gave me enough depth of field to make sure that not only the explosions would be in focus, but the road signs as well. This is kind of important because I learned during my exhibition that to certain people, the names of the places written on the sign can be just as important as the colour or explosions that are show in the sky. I also did a little bit of cropping at
8" x 12" to tighten up the images a little bit, just to make sure that things were a little more better placed in the photo. It's something I like to do for photographs of fireworks. I like to shoot a little bit wider than normal, that way I can crop the image myself later, and at the same time, but shooting wider than necessary, it make sure that I'll get most of the explosion in the frame. There are still a few shows left before the competition comes to an end for this year so that means there still a little time left for some more experimentation. I'll head out a few more times and try to find some new vantage points to get some shots, and should that not work, there are still a couple of old locations that I still have up my sleeve.
had thought. It went home with three people. For those of you who may not remember, or are new to the blog, you can see that photograph here. Following that link will allow you to see the photo in question, and also read a little bit about the background behind what led me to taking it. You'll also find a link there to the website of Bernard Brault, a photographer for newspaper La Presse. Or you could also follow the links I just provided. In any case, Bernard Brault deserves a second link, as those of you who read the other story will know. Theses photographs were taken from a pedestrian overpass that is located over Taschereau Blvd. I like it for two reasons. From that specific location you get a great view of the fireworks going off in the sky as well as an impressive light show caused by using a slow shutter speed of the cars that are passing on the road. It's also a good vantage point to on how bad some of the local drivers are. Though some of the more outrageous lane changes didn't make the final cut for this bunch of photos, I can tell you that I saw some moves that made me wonder if driver's licences were once again being offered for free in boxes of Cracker Jack. My nerves were also a little on edge while taking these photos as I kept having 
this bad feeling that my camera was going to somehow slip off of the tripod and go crashing to the highway below where it would then be crushed by a passing 18-wheeler in a scene right out of a movie as I stood from up high and could only watch. This did not happen, but it still caused my knees to shake a few times whenever I would accidentally brush against the tripod or if there would be a sudden gust of wind. Nothing like some irrational fear to get your heart rate going. Getting back to the photos you see here, they were all shot using a long shutter speed. In order of appearance, here are the settings that I used. The first photograph was shot at f/9, 6sec, ISO 100 at 140mm. The second photograph was taken at f/9, 9sec, ISO 100 at 130mm. Photograph number three was taken at f/9, 7sec, ISO 100 at 130mm and the final photograph was taken at f/9, 6sec, ISO100 at 130mm. Shooting at f/9 gave me enough depth of field to make sure that not only the explosions would be in focus, but the road signs as well. This is kind of important because I learned during my exhibition that to certain people, the names of the places written on the sign can be just as important as the colour or explosions that are show in the sky. I also did a little bit of cropping at 
8" x 12" to tighten up the images a little bit, just to make sure that things were a little more better placed in the photo. It's something I like to do for photographs of fireworks. I like to shoot a little bit wider than normal, that way I can crop the image myself later, and at the same time, but shooting wider than necessary, it make sure that I'll get most of the explosion in the frame. There are still a few shows left before the competition comes to an end for this year so that means there still a little time left for some more experimentation. I'll head out a few more times and try to find some new vantage points to get some shots, and should that not work, there are still a couple of old locations that I still have up my sleeve. 
No comments:
Post a Comment