photographing fireworks

Many of the most dramatic fireworks photographs are made with a single uninterrupted exposure and they are undoctored—

— and yet they do not qualify as TTG.

Why not?

Because to meet P4, a photograph must depict one specific arrangement that occurred during exposure

— and many fireworks photos are made by holding the shutter open long enough to capture multiple successive bursts of fireworks.

In other words, many fireworks photos depict a visual combination that no one at the scene would have seen.

As it says on the satode page linked above, “Every TTG photo must depict an arrangement of elements that would be seen in a momentary ‘glimpse’ or ‘snapshot’ of the subject.”

The fireworks photographs that viewers like most usually fail that test.

What are the photographer’s choices?

1. Don't worry about meeting the Trust Test and make the exposure as long as desired.

Fireworks photos that are not TTG-qualified are not a big deal.

It is safe to say that outside of news contexts, most viewers probably are not looking for reportage-level “trustworthiness” in their fireworks photographs.

Or...

2. Choose a shutter speed that is short enough to capture good fireworks-streaking while ensuring that the photo does not depict an arrangement that never occurred during the exposure(s).

Any fireworks photo that was exposed for longer than 1 second and is labeled TTG is likely to be challenged on satode grounds.

To avoid this, TTG photographers can limit their fireworks exposure length to 1 second or less.

What about when multiple bursts of fireworks appear simultaneously and a photo that looks like it is NOT qualified for TTG actually IS qualified?

The photographer can supply relevant exposure data, for example showing that the exposure was second or less (see #1 above).

VUOs/CUOs will make this sort of “proof” more solid.