I was out doing some landscaping in the garden (finally attempting to do something with our jungle of a backyard) when two Robins took an interest in what I was up to. They became increasingly bold and got closer so I grabbed the camera after I finished up for the day, sat down on the grass and took a few shots.
Friday rolled around and we hadn’t been to any bonfires or fireworks displays this year (or last year as it happens). We had through about travelling down to London to see the fireworks at the Lord Mayors Show but since they weren’t having any we decided to give it a miss, since that would be the key reason for going.
We decided on Donnington instead, which we haven’t been to before. I’ve also never photographer fireworks before so a quick look at the internet confirmed my basic assumptions for a starting point:
Shoot Wide – photos can be cropped later but unless you know exactly where in the sky they will ‘bloom’ (?) then telephoto could be hit and miss.
Use a tripod – it’s low light with exposures of 1-3 seconds average so handheld is out.
Focus first and then change to manual to avoid focusing every time, change the focus if you change the zoom length (while shooting I forgot this twice for a few frames before I remembered).
Use a cable release, shoot in manual using Bulb mode so that the shutter stays open while the button on the cable release is depressed. I tried to time it to press the shooter release as the firework exploded and then hold the shutter open for a few seconds to capture (each exposure varied) to capture the trails of light.
There wasn’t much in the foreground to shoot, no body of water near by to catch reflections in and I set up in a hurry so I shot above the horizon, occasionally capturing the crowd in the foreground at the bottom of the shot.
All the photos here were cropped, some more than others.
Wishing I had another display to go to to practice more
Not a cat this time, but the furry faces of the Moroccan/Algerian Barbary Macaques of Monkey Forest in Trentham Gardens near Stoke.
Another photograph from the course I did in Blackpool. A reflection of the Blackpool tower shot from the beach near the pier, beach rubbish included.
Having missed the evening shoot on my photo course, I stopped at St Annes on the way back for the second day and spent ten minutes shooting the old pier. Not the most inspiring light, overcast and flat but useful for practising post processing. Here is the result.
