Tag Archives: Zane Llewellyn

Youghal Fireworks – 09/07/2016

YL Fireworks 2016 - ZL-6Firstly, thanks to Noelle for sending out a group text to the club members telling us about the fireworks.

Having never tried to take photos of fireworks before, I did a quiet Google for some tips. As with most things on the internet there are loads of different and sometimes conflicting opinions!

These are what I took from them and it worked for me.

Tripod
Wide Angle Zoom Lens (I used a 17-55mm APS-C)
Shot in Bulb mode
Aperture f/8
ISO 400 (I also tried ISO100 for longer exposures)

I picked the end of Ferry point to try and get Youghal town in the background, to add some depth to the photo and add some local interest. It also offered a wide view of the river as the fireworks were launched from a boat that was moving with the tide.

Shooting a moving target in the dark can be tricky but I’d prefocused the camera manually and because it was ~100m away at f/8 it would stay in focus. Good old Hyperfocal distance.

screen-shot-2014-04-10-at-8-21-49-am

So with my tripod setup, camera ready and test shot taken, I waited for the fireworks to start…

… 45 mins later than planned, the ABBA tribute band (who sounded very good, even across the water) finally finished with Dancing Queen and we were off.

The extra 45 mins was a blessing as the sky went from twilight to night giving much more contrast to the fireworks.

The bulb mode worked well with the remote cable as I could watch the fireworks directly and just press and release as needed. I found multiple fireworks were too bright because the latter ones would illuminate the smoke from the first ones.

YL Fireworks 2016 - EU-3

After checking the first few shots, I found 2 – 3 seconds would catch the launch and explosion without being too bright or losing detail.
This is where the remote cable is great. After the first few you get an idea of when to press it and then release, each firework is different.

The main trick is to keep shooting, you’ve no idea will the next firework be a huge dramatic explosion or several launched at once.

It was a very enjoyable spectacle, and thanks to the organisers of The Queen of the Sea festival for putting it on.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the shoot. Enjoy!

– Zane Llewellyn

 

How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn

07 - Easter Comp Zane Llewellyn

Zane Llewellyn took first place in Grade B as well as the overall highest score in our recent ‘Easter‘ competition with the striking shot above. This is how he made it:

I had hoped to base my Easter photo outside in a field of daffodils near my house, but they never came into bloom like other years, so that and the wet weekends meant I needed to come up with a Plan B.

 

I’d picked up a couple of fun Easter decorations in the weeks beforehand and in the run up to Easter I found some of the kids stickers, so the eggs came alive.

 

ZL how i took that shot 1

 

One morning, I swapped out one of the eggs with the chick before the kids got up to pretend that an egg had hatched, when the early morning sun beamed in across the room and suddenly my mind started clicking!

 

I grabbed my camera and took a few shots, but it was on a wooden table and it wasn’t popping. So I got a black mat for the table and put a black reflector behind, it instantly transformed the image. The colours really stood out. Next I played around with different compositions and depth of field.

 

The final image was taken at f8 @ 160/sec, ISO640 since it was handheld using natural light.

 

I used Lightroom to do the basic adjustments, and then Photoshop to remove the wicks from the egg candles which I thought were distracting and I ensured that the background was totally black (Priest socks black!). It was nearly there out of the camera, but I knew that any dark grey areas would show up brighter on the projected image.

 

ZL how i took that shot 2

 

I learned a great tip for checking if it was black. In Photoshop, I inverted the image, so any areas that aren’t totally black are much easier to spot.
In the inverted image below, you can make out the parts that aren’t white, these showed up as dark grey on the non-inverted image.

 

– Zane Llewellyn

See also:
How I took that Shot – Finbarr O’Shea
How I took that Shot – Eileen Upton
Competition Gallery
Competition Results and 2016 League Table 

ECCG ‘Easter’ Competition – 19/04/2016

‘Easter’ was the theme of the thirdd internal competition of 2016 held at the Midleton Park Hotel on Tuesday 19/04/16. Following two viewings of the nineteen entries, marks were awarded which yielded one of the tightest competitions in the recent past, especially in Grade A where the leader board changed several times with just the last few scores. The results were as follows:

Easter Results

With only three points separating first and third, Finbarr O’Shea took first place in Grade A  while Trevor O’Connell and Denis Barry came second and third.

Zane Llewellyn was first in Grade B with Noelle Lowney and RJ Mani in second and third.

With continuing good form, Eileen Upton was first in Grade C with Magda Mani and Jim Curtin in second and third with only one point separating them.

In the overall high scores across all three Grades, Zane Llewellyn, Finbarr O’Shea and Trevor O’Connell took the honours.

Well done to all entrants, especially those new members entering for the first time, and congratulations to those who gained valuable points towards this year’s Photographer of the Year competition.

The image below is the overall highest scoring image by Zane Llewellyn. Click the image to see all the entries. Enjoy!

07 - Easter Comp Zane Llewellyn

See also:
How I took that Shot – Finbarr O’Shea
How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn
How I took that Shot – Eileen Upton
Competition Gallery
Competition Results and 2016 League Table