Project 50 - Week 1 - Abstract Fireworks

Project 50 - Week 1
Subject: Abstract Fireworks

Week one is coming to an end and I've completed my first project!  For this project, my subject was the fireworks display from the 4th of July ceremony from the Berkeley Marina.  But, unlike many others who were attempting to get clear, cool looking shots of the fireworks exploding, I was try to get a more abstract look by using a few different techniques.  Firstly, I used a relatively slow lens (f/4.5~5.6) to take the photos, as well as only shooting hand-held (to introduce a neat blur effect). Second, I make sure to move the camera while shooting to exaggerate the blur effect.  Lastly, I used the camera in full manual mode, so it wouldn't attempt to "refocus" or "fix" the picture.  I shot about 700 photos, and after three rounds of cuts, I got it down to a final 28 photos.

I decided to use (at least for now), my Flickr site to display this quantity of photos, because a) many of my photos are already on Flickr and this might encourage others to look at my earlier works, b) Flickr is a pretty stable site and c) I've already paid for my Pro status there and I might as well use it!  I will be adding these photos to the AntTree site as well (as a new gallery), so if prefer looking at them via the AntTree site, please do so.

I hope that you all enjoy this first project and I can wait for the next 49!

(Click on Photo to be taken to the Flickr site, of if you prefer, you can click on this link directly: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anttree/sets/72157627025585343/)

Project 50 - Week 1 Update #2

Ok, I'm nearly done with my Week 1 project!  I started with nearly 700 photos, and after 3 rounds of cuts, I got it down to 28 shots.  I'm editing them now and should have them ready to post soon.  My quandary is, how am I going to display 28 shots?! I've thought of a few options:

1) Just post all of the photos here and you can look at them one at a time.
2) Create a Flickr Set with all of the photos in it.
3) Create a gallery on the AntTree.org site.

I'm not quite sure what option I like the best yet, but I'll keep thinking about it as I edit the photos. 

Here's another one that I just finished:

 

Enjoy!

Ps: I'll be posting these "updates" on my AntTree Studios Facebook page rather than my personal one, so if you want to follow along with the "workflow", please go to the AntTree page.  When the project is completed, I'll post it on both pages. 

Project 50 - Working Week 1

For my first week project, I'm doing a bit of a "homage" to last years Photo 365 project.  Last year, when I started my Photo 365 project, it was on July 4th and I used a photo of some fireworks going off above the Berkeley Marina.  One of the shots that I got was a really neat, abstract photo and when I saw it, I just knew that I wanted to get more shots like that.  So, this year I specifically tried to get more "abstract" photos of the fireworks going off (not that I minding getting any that were not blurry, but I was trying to get a strange blur effect).

I'm hoping to create a gallery of 20-30 of the best shots - but its taking a bit, because I got about 700 photos.  After the first wave of sorting, I've got it down to just over 200, but still a lot of work to go!  Here are a couple that I think will make it:

Hope you all like them!