4th of July Pictures - Let's see them

[KAT4DISNEY]

Nice pictures from everyone!

Here's a few from the North Lake Tahoe Fireworks. We were on a point approx. 1 to 1.5 miles away from where they were launching. My 20 yr old tripod gave me a couple of fits but I still got a few that I liked. These were shot at ISO 200, most at F11 and my exposure varied. I just kept the lens open until I thought I had captured some interesting bursts. In PP I bumped up the saturation, did some cropping and cloned out house lights that were in the background since the mountain hillside of homes was the backdrop.

 

[Suburbanmom]

Ours were on the 5th of July...not sure why, but that's what happened. Actually, it was kinda nice to spread the holiday out that way.


A few of my favorites:

 

[orchjoe]

The full gallery is here

 

[ukcatfan]

Nothing too exciting, but I did go see the Kissimmee fireworks. I did not bring the camera though. Later on, the friends we were staying with set off a few fireworks and I also played around with long exposures. Here are a few of the results.

 

[tripodjw]

This one looks a scary stick-man - v cool!

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

This one looks a scary stick-man - v cool!

LOL! I thought the same thing when I looked at it. Too funny!

 

[MICKEY88]

taken Sunday night 7-6-08, Harrisburg PA

 

[gruZ]

More long exposure fun with a flash:

 

[handicap18]

Nice shot gruZ.

I made an attempt to do something like that. I had a few glow sticks and was trying to write my name during a long exposure, but I must have not pointed the remote in the right spot and my 2 attempts didn't work. I would have kepted trying till I got it right, but they started setting off the fireworks so I went to that instead.

I think what I may do if/when I try it again is to write it in the air like I normally would, then in PP mirror the image so that it can be read. Other wise it will come out backwards. I also don't know if just 2 small glow sticks will be enough light. It certainly would be a fun project to work on, especially if you have kids that are at least 8 years old or so. I don't know if my 6 year old would quite get the concept, plus his spelling is still,,, well, he's 6.

 

[Indiana Jacob]

I was planning on taking firework pictures, I even brought me camera. When I got there though, it died because I hadn't charged it. Dope!

 

[gulf breeze]

More long exposure fun with a flash:

This is really cool!!! How'd you do that? Breeze

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Finally had time to upload these. First fireworks with dSLR. I used a tripod and the fireworks setting. It was challenging as it was pitch dark and a little hectic in the group I was with; and just before the show a large group of latecomers came and stood right in front of my camera set up (reminded me of Disney). I should have used a remote shutter release or the timer but I didn't, so there may be a little camera shake. (Bonfire shot was handheld.)

Plymouth, MA

 

[gruZ]

This is really cool!!! How'd you do that? Breeze

Thanks! I used a Canon 20D and 430EX flash. The camera was on a tripod, ISO 100, F5.0, and shutter of 1.3 seconds. The flash was set to 2nd flash curtain (meaning it fires at the end of the exposure, not the beginning) and I used a 1/2 CTO gel.

A gel is basically a small piece of colored transparency that goes over the business end of the flash. It's designed to alter the color of the light. In this case CTO stands for Color Temperature Orange, and it makes the flash a slightly "orangish" color. I used this because if I hadn't, the flash would have been typical bright white, and the shot would have had two colors of light - the orange from the sparkler and the bright white illuminating the subject from the flash. By using the gel, the color of the flash more closely matches the color of the sparklers. Tons of good stuff on the Strobist web site, with gel information here. In the words of Strobist, the flash does the work, and the sparklers get the credit

Because of the longer exposure and tripod, the sparkler trails are caught pretty easily and there is no lens blur, and the flash at the end of the exposure illuminates the subject, who otherwise would have been almost as dark as the background.

The toughest part was having the kids make the sprarkler circles big enough so the sparkler glow didn't block their face! I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

 

[Suburbanmom]

I got a chance for a do-over!

The small town to the west of us had a festival which included fireworks. Can't get luckier than fireworks twice in one week. And it was my anniversary...so cool!

We sat in about the same spot, but made sure to be in front of of the street lights, so they wouldn't interfere this time. I also used blub mode for the first time and used my remote clicker to open the shutter. I tried to anticipate when the burst would start and stop. It's definately harder than I thought it would be, but overall went well. About half way through the show, I changed my aperture from f/8 to 8/11. ISO was set to 200, the lowest my D50 will allow. I left the white balance on cloudy and adjusted it as necessary in PP, shot in RAW. There was a light wind occassionally, but the smoke seemed to just hang there. It was a very good show. I don't think I did it justice, but it was good practice. We have a Disney trip planned in November and I'm so glad I got the chance to play around before WISHES.

Both shows can be seen here: Huron, Ohio Fireworks

Here are some of my favorites: