I didn't think the contrast was too great in the BBC video, but I did see what could have been a brief burst of sparks at the first touchdown. The still pictures looked like fairly long exposures based on the streaked background, so it's probably just that the sparks showed up a lot better.
Whether using a picture of sparks that were present for perhaps a second (and may well have appear much more dramatic in the photo than they did in person) is a fair way to represent the landing is a different question. But the media loves sparks -- just ask anyone who's been photographed doing metal work.
Last edited by Chu Chu; 31st Dec 2014 at 13:47.