We had fireworks going on in all directions last night, from about 8 until after 11. It continues to amaze me how people will literally blow their money.
But...those of us cheapskates got to enjoy a pretty good show.
I spent the evening with my camera on a tripod. Since the remote control I ordered has not arrived, I had to depress the shutter by hand. I spent quite a bit of time researching how to take the photos. Essentially, I set the camera to "Manual," set the shutter speed at 'bulb,' the aperture at 7.1, and depressed the shutter whenever the explosion started. Then I let go of the shutter as the firework died out. It's not an exact science. The hardest part was focus. I kept reading that the manual focus should be set at 'infinity,' but there is no infinity symbol on my lens. So I dialed it all the way out and then tried to back off a bit until it looked like most of the fireworks would be in focus.
I'm not wildly happy about these photos, but I figure they aren't bad for a novice. What I should do is go to a display this is organized and has cool fireworks that end up being flowers, etc. Regular people seem to tend to just buy ones that make a lot of noise and don't necessarily go up in a pattern. I suppose the others are more expensive.
Anyway, I never heard sirens last night, so apparently there weren't any terrible injuries.
2 comments:
Around here they started at around 7ish and kept going until at least midnight, probably later. I know because they kept jolting me awake.
Went to the stone arch bridge and watched them over the Mississippi, just after sunset. Still my all-time fave place. Didn't have tripods, so we used railings and the fireworks settings on our sad little cameras. Got some really cool bridge pics, though. Kept wishing I remembered exactly where your former house was to grab a shot for ya.
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