PF PHOTO CONTEST - I Love Fireworks (6/28-7/5)

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The thread centers around a photo contest themed on fireworks, coinciding with the 4th of July celebrations. Participants discuss rules for submission, share their experiences with photographing fireworks, and express their thoughts on the contest's timing and entries.

Discussion Character

  • Contest-related
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that smaller fireworks, such as sparklers, qualify for the contest theme.
  • Another participant mentions their experience of photographing fireworks during New Year, noting the low turnout of attendees.
  • Concerns are raised about adhering to photo size requirements for submissions, with one participant reflecting on past issues with resizing images.
  • Several participants share their challenges and successes in capturing fireworks, including difficulties with camera settings and framing shots.
  • A participant proposes extending the contest deadline to accommodate those who might photograph fireworks on July 4th.
  • One participant expresses disappointment about missing fireworks due to rain, while another shares excitement over their successful captures.
  • Technical details about camera settings and equipment are discussed, with one participant sharing their setup and research efforts for photographing fireworks.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the contest rules and the theme but express differing opinions on the timing of submissions and personal experiences with photographing fireworks. Some participants have successfully captured images, while others have faced challenges or missed opportunities.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention specific technical challenges related to camera settings and the unpredictability of fireworks displays, indicating a reliance on personal experience and experimentation.

Who May Find This Useful

Photography enthusiasts, particularly those interested in capturing fireworks, as well as participants in online photo contests.

ZapperZ
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
Insights Author
Messages
32,812
Reaction score
4,723
I Love Fireworks!

With the 4th of July looming this coming week, I thought it would be timely to have our theme on fireworks. While the spectacular show in the sky certainly is the main candidate for the theme, smaller "fireworks" such as sparklers, etc. also qualify.

Zz.

Contest Rules:

1. Any digital photo or digitally-scanned photo relevant to the theme will be accepted within the contest period. In case there's a gray area, or you're not sure if the picture is suitable, check with me first.

2. Please resize your digital photo to no more than 650 x 490 or 490 x 650 pixels. You may also crop your picture if you wish. You are also allowed to adjust the brightness and contrast of your picture but these should not dramatically alter the look of the picture. But other than those, any form of picture editing or modification is not allowed. This is a photo contest, not a picture editing/special effect contest. You may add a watermark or your name/nickname to the photo for identification purposes.

3. Upload your photos to any of the photo servers such as imageshack or photobucket. Then post it the relevant contest thread and link your picture using the img command. PM me if you do not know how.

4. Only ONE picture per member per contest. Once a picture is posted, it cannot be changed other than a total withdrawl by that member from that week's photo contest. Exceptions will be made for modification to comply with the rules, such as resizing.

5. At the end of the contest period, I will open a poll and every PF member can vote for the picture they like best.

6. Note that in case we have a large number of entries, I will do the polling in more than one thread. If that's the case, you can vote in each of the polling threads. The photos will be assigned in the polling threads in the order they were submitted.

7. These pictures must be something that you took, not something taken off someone else's photo albums or taken by someone else. I have no way of checking if you did this, so we'll go by the honor system.

8. You can use a picture only once. Once it is used in a contest, it cannot be reused in another contest.

9. Please post only pictures meant for submission in this thread.

Zz.
 
Physics news on Phys.org


Not July 4th, but January 1st.

sylwester08.jpg


Still, some fireworks visible :wink:
 


They had fireworks for the New Year, and only 2 people showed up? :)

Zz.
 


fireworks1.jpg
 


ZapperZ said:
They had fireworks for the New Year, and only 2 people showed up? :)

Zz.

No, there were at least five people - two visible (on some pictures there is also their dog visible), me and my wife (behind the camera) and someone to light the fuse :wink: We went to celebrate New Year on the shore of the Zegrze Reservoir, about 20 km from here.

Hey, PFers, as you see I am not that much into partying :smile:
 


Borek said:
No, there were at least five people - two visible (on some pictures there is also their dog visible), me and my wife (behind the camera) and someone to light the fuse :wink: We went to celebrate New Year on the shore of the Zegrze Reservoir, about 20 km from here.

Hey, PFers, as you see I am not that much into partying :smile:

BTW, I forgot to mention this earlier, but you need to pay attention to the SIZE of your photo and our photo contest rules.

Zz.
 


Thank you for spotting. Now and then I am reusing pictures that were resized for other forum where 700 horizontal looks OK on 1024 monitors, and now I either remember to resize them again - or not.
 


When I get pictures of fireworks, this contest will be over...
 


hypatia said:
fireworks1.jpg

Last time I entered a fireworks theme contest here, I got critiqued for my squiggly, shaky photos. But, I really like the effect in yours...it almost looks like a carnation blossom fully opened. :smile:
 
  • #10


I think it was the only one of about 30 that looked kind of cool, I think because it went off so low to the ground. I wish I had my old camera back.
 
  • #11


IMG_2457.jpg


Between the last contest and this one I had to the opportunity to photograph fireworks once, and not to mention it was my first time. Since I couldn't predict where they would go off, I couldn't frame the shots properly. :frown:
 
  • #12


moose said:
When I get pictures of fireworks, this contest will be over...

I doubt I'm going to get to any July 4 fireworks this year, but since most of us don't live in Chicago where they go off a day early for some strange reason, perhaps we can plead for this contest to run to July 5 so those who might have an opportunity to see some July 4 fireworks have time to upload photos the next day?
 
  • #13


rsz_P8111413.jpg

Here's mine. Ahh, metal sparklers...
 
  • #14


A timely article (for some at least) from the DPS Blog. (It's actually from last year.)
 
  • #15


img0775sj3.jpg


Zz.
 
  • #16
To accommodate those who are planning on snapping pictures of the fireworks on the 4th of July, I've extended the deadline for photo submission to this contest by one day. So you will have all of the 5th of July to get your pictures in.

Zz.
 
  • #17
Just a reminder that you have 2 days left to submit a photo for this contest, including Saturday, July 5th. So go out and get those fireworks pictures!

Zz.
 
  • #18
Final day to submit a photo for this contest. Did anyone get good fireworks pictures from the 4th?

Zz.
 
  • #19
It was raining yesterday, so I didn't even go out to see the fireworks displays. :frown: I heard them after dark though, so I guess they held them in spite of the rain, unless those were just people setting them off in backyards in the area. I was hoping for a rain date.
 
  • #20
I got some trippy ones. My camera doesn't make it very easy to manually change the aperture, and the shutter speed is only slightly easier.
 
  • #21
Wow, dragon, that's quite a wonderful photo for your first attempt! Actually, that's a wonderful photo for ANY attempt. :biggrin:
 
  • #22
dragon, that's awesome! Well, I guess we have a winner. :cool:

What kind of camera/lenses? What settings? I can just imagine what the full photo looks like.
 
  • #23
I used my new Nikon D80 with a 28-135mm Nikor lens, UV filter and Bogen tripod, Camera settings were ISO 100, Aperature was set at f11 and shutter was set to Bulb. I spent 2 days researching how to take pictures of Fireworks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #24
dragon2200 said:
I used my new Nikon D80 with a 28-135mm Nikor lens, UV filter and Bogen tripod, Camera settings were ISO 100, Aperature was set at f11 and shutter was set to Bulb. I spent 2 days researching how to take pictures of Fireworks.

:!) Nice picture.

Dragon, have you found our photography thread here in general discussion? You'll find kindred souls there, I think!
 
  • #25
I went all the way down to DC to watch the fireworks, but no camera :frown:
 
  • #26
dragon2200 said:
I spent 2 days researching how to take pictures of Fireworks.

Looks like it paid off! Between the quality of the photo, and the great composition (talk about the perfect July 4 combination of fireworks with red, white and blue all layered in one shot), I predict you're going to run away with this competition.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K