Sunday, October 14, 2018

12 Fireworks Photos from the Kyuzo Toyama Matsuri in Kin Town

festival, fireworks, matsuri, Okinawa

Away from Festival Grounds



Kyuzo Toyama is considered the father of Okinawan emigration.

Kin Town is celebrating the 150th year of his birth during this annual festival.

Grounded by doctor's orders and heavily medicated, I didn't attend the matsuri.




festival, fireworks, Kyuzo Toyama, Okinawa



Having been to this festival dozens of times, I came up with a plan. Stay home.

Under orders, to not leave the house, I simply went up on the roof.




fireworks, hanabi, matsuri, Kin Town, Okinawa


Normally, the bursts of fire would appear off to the west of my position.

This year the wind decided to carry the show off towards the north.




hanabi, Japan, matsuri, Okinawa



Having the camera and zoom lens mounted on a sturdy tripod made things simple.

It was easy to swing the contraptions around and capture a few good shots.




fireworks, festival, hanabi, matsuri, Okinawa, Japan


The camera was taken off Auto Focus and, I focus to infinity.

That way the lens won't be continually searching in the dark for fireworks.




fireworks, festival, nightlife, matsuri, Okinawa


Starting things off, I use an exposure of f/11 1/60 ISO 100.

Hanabi can be tricky and you learn to adjust the shutter speed, quickly.

Some photos were exposed 0.3 seconds, others to 1.6 seconds. I go with the flow.




fireworks, festival, nightlife, Okinawa

There are advantages to being up on a roof shooting festival fireworks.

Number One: Nobody can walk in front of the camera and ruin your shot!




hanabi, matsuri, Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan



My method of shooting is, use continuous firing mode or rapid fire.

That means, I hold the shutter button down and fire bursts of 3 or 4 images at a time.

Everyone has their own preferences for fireworks photography. That's mine.

If, you Google "Fireworks Photography" there are probably a dozen other ways of doing it.




fireworks, photography, nightlife, Okinawa


A tripod makes things a lot easier and eliminates camera shake somewhat.

But, I have also steadied the camera resting on a fence, wall, or rock and, done just as well.




festivals, nightlife, Okinawa


An advantage I discovered this time around, to being farther away pleased me.

The wind seemed to clear the smoke surrounding the fireworks, more quickly.

Smoke can ruin some great shots when it clouds-up images.




fireworks, Kin Town, Okinawa



Hanabi, translated to English, would mean, flower fire. What flower is this?

Maybe a dandelion or one of those weeds growing on your lawn?




fireworks, cityscape, Okinawa


Grand Finale



The Mad Moment, when all Hell breaks loose gave me flashbacks.

They must say, "Times up" and load everything they've got in their mortar tubes.

Not very pretty but, this photo shows some buildings silhouetted in the foreground.

I could email you a digital copy for only 5 bucks! 


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