It is the time of the year where fireworks displays happen every Saturday evening as Singapore is preparing for her birthday. This year, she is celebrating her forty eighth birthday, and this is the birthday present I have for everyone!
The way I took this photo might seem unorthodox or even unacceptable to some, but to push the technical and physical limitations of camera equipment that we have, it calls for the computer to help us get the shots we want.
Firstly, we decide on the cityscape that we want. Note, planning the right angle is important for getting the best composition and making sure you get the full view of the city skyline. Also, stay away from the upwind (the wind is not blowing towards you) so that the smoke will not cover the fireworks.
This is taken with my Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. Taken on a crop sensor, the focal length I have used is 24mm which results in a roughly 36mm on the full frame sensor. 4 individual shots were taken and stitched together with Photoshop CS6. You can also find other software on the net to help you with the stitching. If you have a wide angle lens or fish-eye lens, you would not have to take as a panorama. It is a personal preference when it comes to how you would like you background to look like.
Next, it calls for the fireworks. Depending on how "purist" you are, you would employ different techniques to take the fireworks.
These are taken like how anyone would normally take fireworks. My method was to have my camera on manual mode (M) and place my aperture at f11. Depending on the distance you are to the fireworks and how you would like your firework to look like, you can vary your aperture from f8 to f11. The further you are from the fireworks or the brighter/bigger the trails of fireworks, the bigger the f-number. ISO 100 for minimum noise. For shutter speed, I like to put on bulb mode.
So this is how it is like when I took the photos, note I also use a black card. (nothing special, just a black colour card)
1. Remote shutter release with black card in front (shutter is opened).
2. Wait for the firework to rise into the air.
3. Lift up the black card the moment the firework explode (about 2 to 3 sec).
4. Cover the front with the black card and wait for next firework.
5. Repeat step 3 as many times you like, but I would suggest 3 to 4 times will get the best results.
6. End the exposure by releasing the shutter with a remote shutter control.
For the purists out there (you do not want to post process that much), you can achieve a nice exposure with the technique above, but do repeat the process (exposing the sensor) as many times as it take to get a good exposure of the cityline (about 30 seconds). For example, you might have exposed 3 fireworks (for lets say 15 secs) already, and you think it is good enough for that exposure, you can wait for the fireworks to die down before lifting up your card to properly expose the cityline (another 15 seconds) for a good overall exposure.
Time for Post Processing
I am using Photoshop CS6 and Nik software in my processing. Firstly, I process the skyline in Nik software for noise reduction, colour cast removal and sharpening. For the fireworks, make sure to correct the colour temperature so that your green fireworks would not look white, yellow look red. You can easily achieve that in Lightroom or any stock RAW editing software that you have access too.
This is where the tricky post processing part starts. This is targeted for users that have some knowledge in Photoshop, if you are unclear, youtube helps or do leave a comment so I can try to help you.
Method One, open the firework image as a new layer. Add a layer mask to the layer. Fill the layer mask to black colour. To do this, double click on the layer mask and invert colour (To learn more about layer mask, there are a lot of youtube tutorials that will definitely help). Note that the mask should appear black in colour. Now, take the white brush and paint over the area with fireworks to "reveal" the fireworks AND reflections. Lastly, set blend mode to Lighten. Repeat for as many fireworks as you would like. Do note that you can reposition the firework with the transformation tool.
Method Two, open the firework image as a new layer. But this time, go to the channel tab and click on it. It will show RGB, Red Green and Blue channel. Depending on the colour of the firework, choose the channel that emphasise the firework the most. Ctrl-click on the image to "select the image". What you are doing is to select the brightest 50% (think fireworks and reflections) parts of the image. Now you can go back to your Layers tab, Click on the Layer menu bar, Layer Mask and Reveal selection. this step will enable you to reveal the fireworks and reflections (AND any bright spots like lights). Use the black paint brush to cover the unwanted bright lights to clean the image. As before, you can reposition the firework with the transformation tool.
The pros of Method 1 is that it is simpler but it tends to have a bit more smoke and stray lights while Method 2 shows significantly lesser smoke.
It is a long post, but I hope you have learn a thing or two, do leave a comment behind if you have any, cheers!
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