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| Composite of sunset, fireworks, and lightning from 25 photos, Chadron, Nebraska, July 4, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard) |
I hadn't photographed fireworks in a few years, and I had a hankering for a set of photos to play with. One possibility is a high dynamic time range composite. The traditional style I learned years back is an orderly style used by Martin Krzywinski. Out of 187 frames, I chose 25, and then masked in details from each to create this mess of a composition. The sky needs a bit more work to get a pleasing blend between dark and light areas. I hate to lose too much of the golden clouds from the sunset portions, but I need to use the dark blues that end up behind the various firework portions. There were storms passing the area and I had several frames with lightning (left of center and far right side), which I included. There are two sunset sections and two large sky sections across the top. The remainder are fireworks and foreground to bring in the city lights. For a quick 30-minute session, I'll go with it. And hopefully within the next year I'll finish it!
Update 2020-07-06
I didn't wait long to make some adjustments. Some transition area cleanup, and toning down the streetlights. I'm pleased with this iteration.
And here is the stack of 25 frames showing the elements from each that went into the finished composite.
