Night Light
When Photographing Fireworks it's Always a Good Idea to include Background and Foreground Detail as it Puts the Display in Some Sort of Perspective
January is invariably a month which provides us here in London with rather grey and gloomy rain soaked skies. It has again been commendable in its consistency. The short days, the flat light and the raw cold temperatures really don’t help the photographic process.
Nonetheless, there have been a couple of days, nights actually, that have been perfect, where a near cloudless sky provided just the right backdrop to two very different displays of light and colour.
Seconds into this new year the river Thames, overlooked by the London Eye, exploded with a truly impressive and spectacular fireworks extravaganza that rivalled even Sydney, Australia’s New Year celebration. So relentless, high and wide were the rocket bursts that it was nigh impossible to capture its true dramatic beauty in a single frame.
Just a few days ago London enjoyed a refulgent full moon. Rising low over the eastern horizon in the early evening, it threw the city sky line into silhouetted relief. With a coinciding low tide I walked the foreshore of the Thames. Dodging small patches of very soft sand and the waves created by the wake of the passenger clipper boats that sped up and down the river, I took some pictures of the view north eastwards towards the tall buildings of Canary Wharf. There was nothing for it other than getting my feet very wet and experimenting with the exposure times. This shot was taken with a 28mm lens, at f16 with an 8 second exposure at iso 400.
Recently I spoke about India, Rajasthan and the Pushkar camel fair as a guest of Royal Expeditions on a live webinar as I am leading a small group of photographers to Jaipur, Jodhpur, Pushkhar and Varanasi this coming autumn. The tour has been arranged with comfort, service and a certain exclusivity in mind as well as to maximise the number of opportunities to photograph some really special events and places. It is a long time since I will have stayed In India in such refined surroundings. It will be truly a special once in a lifetime experience.
Nick said...
Thanks for reading my blog post. Please let me know what you think. English only please :)