Abstract Firework photography

[james-greenland]

Here are a couple of shots I took at my new years celebrations:





More shots here:

let me know what you think.

Cheers,

James

[RedwoodGuy]

The photographs are exposed well and they work as photographic "sweets". They are fun to see for a few seconds but don't contain within a lot of reason to stay with them. This is typical of this kind of photography, whose aim is to capture a splash of color. In painting there used to be a county fair version of this called "spin painting."

The question is can you make these splashes more interesting, more powerful than they are now? In the case of the first, there is too much dead area. The sea of black isn't doing much work. Viewer understand what "night sky" is, so too much of it doesn't help. In the second, the colors aren't very punchy.

These are hard to do in a way that hold interest. The best ones I have seen have a visible b/g so that there is more content and more juxtaposition and more opportunity for interest.

[RSL]

What Guy said. +1.

[Doug Frost]

I like the minimalist abstraction of the first one.

[John E]

Yes, even with the negative space, the first one is nice - kinda modern arty (or is that moderny arty?).

John

[james-greenland]

@RedwoodGuy - could you send some examples my way as to what you mean by a visible b/g? I'm curious as to what could add interest to the night sky when only using (relatively) short shutter speeds.

The negative space was certainly intentional - I originally intended for #1 to not be as cropped as it is and have far more of it.

I agree with you on the colours of #2, but only considered alongside #1, as the pinks are so vibrant that it makes #2 look pale in comparison. Perhaps whites could do with a bit of lightening, but as the firework itself was not a colourful one there is not much that can be done in terms of vibrancy.