Fireworks Panorama

[feppe]

Here a panorama with unusually demanding subject matter: strong unearthly colors from the pier and fireworks, reflections, night time. Extensive editing to get this to look at all real - it didn't look real in person, either

Taken at 31st International Fireworks Festival in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Canon 550D, 14mm Sigma @ f/8.

I'm really struggling with this panorama - work in progress and any tips much appreciated.

[jeremypayne]

I like it ...  but ... I would be tempted to use "content aware scaling" to bring the fireworks and pier a little closer together and lose some of that void between them

[wolfnowl]

I like it ...  but ... I would be tempted to use "content aware scaling" to bring the fireworks and pier a little closer together and lose some of that void between them

My first thought exactly.  It looks like two excellent pictures, set beside each other.

Mike.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I agree with Jeremy and Mike. Except for bringing the two parts closer together, I wouldn't change a thing. The couple silhouetted against the red glow from the fireworks is a nice touch.

Eric

[AndyWR]

That 2 pictures alone would make a great photo..
I feel that beach line is not connected properly because of the diffrent angle.
And if you could I would like to see the fireworks image alone..

[DarkPenguin]

Love the left side.

[shutterpup]

Ditto Dark Penguin's remark. The right side is nice, but really is a separate focal point.

[Lost]

And if you could I would like to see the fireworks image alone..

I would second that - the light and sillhouettes look stunningly beautiful.

I think that the difficulty with the image is that it is not clear what the main draw to the eye is - fireworks or the end of the pier?  I suspect that editing out the gap between the pier and the fireworks will not change this, but splitting it in to two images seems like quite a good idea.  [I usually have a terrible time trying to simplify my subjects when shooting, and frequently end up cutting parts out in PP... schitzophrenically, I seem to see something quite different when pressing the shutter button vs  editing in PP!]

[feppe]

Thanks for all the comments! I also feel that perhaps the fireworks would work better alone, but I took a whole series of shots at the show which have the fireworks as the main sole subject.

I'm generally ruthless about cropping out anything extraneous and fully agree with the sentiments about this containing two distinct shots. I wanted to do something different, but perhaps it doesn't work as well as I had hoped. The fireworks are a strong eyecatching subject, but I was hoping the outrageous pier would be enough to balance the composition. The pier crop could definitely stand on it's own as well.

I got very lucky with the couple standing there giving some scale, as well as putting in the human element in the shot.

Here a version with modest editing as suggested, which still retains the "honesty" of the scene. I used content-aware scaling (as aware as my manual copy-paste is ) by bringing the pier and blooms closer together.

[Dale Villeponteaux]

I hang my head and apologize fulsomely for my dishonesty, but does this work better compositionally?  I did nothing to improve the transition, as you can well see.
(By the way, is this outrage on my part crossing a line?)

Just an impulse,
Dale

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

This one is a little too tight, IMHO. I would start with your previous version, but cut the black space between the two sides about in half, to bring them closer but not crammed quite so close as in the newest version. I think the two sections want a little breathing room, but only a little.

Honesty? Whazzat?

Eric

[feppe]

I hang my head and apologize fulsomely for my dishonesty, but does this work better compositionally?  I did nothing to improve the transition, as you can well see.
(By the way, is this outrage on my part crossing a line?)

I don't mind at all.

I'm not comfortable taking that much artistic freedom with the scene (or any other scene, for that matter). This edit turns it into more of a reconstruction or a collage, which are not my cup of tea. I'm not saying this would be akin to deleting offending political officials in historic photos, but I do think content-aware fill and seam carving are too easily abused.

Besides, everybody who was there knows that the fireworks were not on top of the pier from that vantage point.