techniques

This is the third year that I've attempted to photograph fireworks and I think I'm improving each time so that's pleasing.  Like a lot of amateur photographers I wanted to get some shots but was expecting it to be pretty tricky, actually if you have the right kit and follow a few simple rules the basic technical elements are pretty easy and once you've mastered that you can start thinking more about the composition.

How to photograph fireworks

Equipment -

• A camera with Bulb mode (ordinary long exposures are OK but much less flexible)
• A tripod (I've seen some good handheld firework shots, but I can't imagine you'd get many keepers from an evening)
• A remote shutter release
• A small penlight can be useful

Fireworks

Fireworks

Bonfire

Bonfire Night

Water droplets are one of those things that eventually every keen photographer with a macro lens will have a go at, it's a good wet Sunday afternoon activity and you can get some great results.  A couple of years ago I had a go and was pleased with the results, but there was nothing to differentiate them from hundreds of other examples I'd seen on the internet and in fact they were quite dull.  So, the other day I decided to have another go and see what I could do about getting something a bit different (when I say different I'm sure this has been done before but I haven

Water Drops

Water Drops

Water Drops

Water Drops

Anyone who's investigated the theory of photographic composition will be aware of principles such as the Rule of Thirds, The Golden Ratio and The Golden Spiral and other guidelines designed to help create pleasing compositions and direct the viewer's eyes to the main subjects thereby giving your images more impact.  Whilst no one would advocate adhereing strictly to these methods they can certainly be useful aids, unfortunately visualising them isn't always easy and that's where some new features in Lightroom 1.1 can help.

I often find myself returning home from a weekend away with several hundred shots, some are good (although not as many as I'd like), some are OK and some are rubbish.

Before I spend any time cataloging and properly "developing" the images I want to sort out the good, the bad and the downright ugly.  There are a number of ways that this can be achieved in Lightroom which include using ratings or simply deleting each bad one as you get to it.  I use the method outlined below because I find it quick, it gives me a chance to review my decision before I delete anything and lets me keep track of where I am so that if I get interrupted half way through I can come straight back to it another day.

Why Soap Films? 

I was looking for something a bit different to do, possibly to enter into a local Science Photography competition. I'd recently taken a few shots of the kids blowing soap bubbles and like many people I was fascinated by the rainbow colours so I decided to investigate what could be done to maximise the effect of those in a photograph.

Soap-Film-Four

Soap-Film-One

Soap-Film-Two

Soap-Film-Six