Fireworks in Tokyo

[Mikes]

Spectacular captures, Akira. Great timing, and the colours are wonderful.

I am sorry that I missed Tokyo's fireworks this year - I have been enjoying the hot Tokyo summer from Sydney. Back there shortly.

Where were the fireworks located this year?

[Akira]

Armando and Mike, thanks!  Glad you like them.

[Anthony]

Really good firework images - not an easy subject.

[stenrasmussen]

These are wondergood! Da A-man surely knows how to capture exploding things 

[John Geerts]

Marvelous done, looked like you really had the front-row there

[Akira]

Anthony, thanks.  The fireworks are fun to shoot and experiment!

Sten, yeah, getting on the groove is da key!

John, thanks.  The tower and the buildings indeed give a nice sense of scale.

[Roland Vink]

They are beautiful fireworks, very colorful. I remember taking a lot of fireworks pictures on film over several years. Mostly shot on Velvia, I set the camera to bulb and lens to f8, then just point in the right general direction, squeeze the shutter and hope for the best! A lot were duds but I managed to get some nice shots. Most were hand-held, and with exposures of a few seconds there was "camera shake" due to my pulse, but since the background was just black sky it did not matter and imparted a slight waviness to the fiery streaks which looked quite nice. You obviously used a tripod which was obviously the best choice in your situation - well done!

[Rick Waldroup]

These are some of the best fireworks shots I have ever seen.  The use of the foreground buildings really make the shots as it gives them some scale and depth.  Great stuff.

[Akira]

Roland, thanks.  I've never shot fireworks on films.  Needless to say, but that should be way, way more challenging than on digitals.  And yes, I did use a tripod!

Rick, thanks for kind words.  There was virtually no choice of shooting position.  So, I was just lucky to have a nice tower and some buildings in the foreground.

[chris dees]

Roland, thanks.  I've never shot fireworks on films.  Needless to say, but that should be way, way more challenging than on digitals.  And yes, I did use a tripod!

Rick, thanks for kind words.  There was virtually no choice of shooting position.  So, I was just lucky to have a nice tower and some buildings in the foreground.

Beautiful images!
What lenses/settings did you use? (Exif is stripped).

[Akira]

Beautiful images!
What lenses/settings did you use? (Exif is stripped).

Thanks, Chris.

I used a mint Ai-converted Nikkor QC 200/4.0 on D7000.  The basic setting is ISO100 and f11.  The shutter speed is, along with the timing, an essential factor for the shape of the light trails created by the stars of fireworks rather than the exposure value.  This time I selected 8sec. which can or should be varied according to the size of each firework.

The EXIF data are stripped when I "save for web" in Adobe CC2015.

[chris dees]

Beautiful images!
What lenses/settings did you use? (Exif is stripped).

Thanks, Chris.

I used a mint Ai-converted Nikkor QC 200/4.0 on D7000.  The basic setting is ISO100 and f11.  The shutter speed is, along with the timing, an essential factor for the shape of the light trails created by the stars of fireworks rather than the exposure value.  This time I selected 8sec. which can or should be varied according to the size of each firework.

The EXIF data are stripped when I "save for web" in Adobe CC2015.

Thanks Akire.
I don't know in PS, but in LR it's a setting.

[Akira]

Thanks Akire.
I don't know in PS, but in LR it's a setting.

Thanks, Chris.  I'll look into the setting of CC2015.  I never used LR, but the new "dehaze" in CC2015 works great to eliminate the smoke that marrs the fireworks.

[elsa hoffmann]

.....but the new "dehaze" in CC2015 works great to eliminate the smoke that marrs the fireworks.

interesting..... That has me interested in CC.
How worth while do you find this specific feature?

[Akira]

interesting..... That has me interested in CC.
How worth while do you find this specific feature?

Elsa, this is a comparison to show the effect of "dehaze" slider.  The only difference between these is the dehaze value.  The upper one is the same one as posted as the last image in the first batch, and its dehaze value is +60.  The lower one is the same image with no dehaze (value 0).

Notice the residual smoke is effectively removed.  I'm going to see if the "dehaze" can also remove the light pollution that always marrs the sky of night cityscapes in Tokyo.