(second attempt to update details... digg affect in full force)
I went out in the afternoon to scout out locations to position for the celebrations at the Tower of Americas. Then I headed out and setup at about 11:15pm with my tripod, camera, and remote control (really need the remote control).
Lots of people passed by and exchanged "Happy New Year" greetings. Had one woman come up to me and ask if I could spare some money so she could get something to eat so I gave her some and wished her Happy New Year (and quietly hopped she would have a better new year then the one she just had).
Once things started I just started shooting away. San Antonio has a 17 minute show so I ended up with 100+ photos. Believe it or not, this was the second picture!
All photo processing was done with a beta of Adobe Lightroom. The crop was quite by accident as the original is a vertical picture. I was playing around with Lightshow's slideshow feature where one of the options is to "autofill" the frame and on this picture this was the fill it gave me. Everyone in my family agreed that this picture was their favorite so I went with it.
The clarity of the tower top was probably a testiment to the tripod and the remote control. I don't have a very good tripod so I had the legs fully retracted to minimize the shake placing the camera very close to the ground.
Adobe Lightroom's controls are fairly straight forward. I tweaked the black level some, added some vibrancy and that was about it. Then in Photoshop Elements 4.0 I resized to 720, sharpened, then saved for web.
I hope you enjoy. I know I really enjoy fireworks (ask my family, they know I'm crazy about sticking around for shows).
after challenge
Woot! (something my son says) Personal best. Sooo close to a ribbon (the last weekend of voters brought me down around .17). Thanks all!
As promised, here is the original:
The small sizes here doesn't do justice to the clarity of the tower and fireworks.
Statistics
Place: 4 out of 74 Avg (all users): 7.4330 Avg (commenters): 8.6500 Avg (participants): 6.8649 Avg (non-participants): 7.5455 Views since voting: 6247 Views during voting: 481 Votes: 224 Comments: 34 Favorites: 6 (view)
I am almost positive I saw one of your fireworks shots in the most recent copy of "Popular Photography" in a small ad :) If so, congrats!! I love em, they are fabulous!! Low noise, perfect clarity :)
Oh David!!! 4th place!!! I feel your pain. . .but it only lasts a moment, then you realize how incredibly awesome of an accomplishment you achieved to place so high in this incredible challenge!
This shot takes my breath away! Makes me proud to live in a City that can be made this spectacular!
Congratulations on your first Honorable Mention, and a phenomenal score!
Holy cow - what a score! Congrats on a great finish and a great picture! And I don't know why "consolation" would be necessary when you've got a picture like this!
gave this a 10 and thought you might ribbon...you just missed out David...a wonderful image, well done on the top 4...though I know that's no consolation :-) congrats on your pb
Not bad, without that house in it this shot would have just been yet another shot of fireworks but that bumps it up a bit. Still not dropping my jaw over this but good work.
WOW! I know that tower! This is totaly incredible. Without a doubt one of the best pictures of fireworks that I have ever seen. The composition, clairity, and colors are awesome. Excellent Work!
Beautiful capture. But I'm confused by the appearance that the more-or-less horizontal, red streaks appear to be eminating from the tower itself. Were they actually using the tower as a launching spot?
Oh you LUCKY. . .getting such a close-up view of the fireworks over the
Tower. This could not BE any more spectacular!!! And what a way to highlight that striking structure!! This is by far my favorite! In fact, I'm adding it to my favorites! Kudos for making San Antonio look so magical!! 10!
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