Spent the Independence Day holiday at my parents' home in Northern California; took a large number of shots of which a small few may prove worthy.
The evening of July 4th we lagged in making a commitment to drive the twenty minutes from my folks' rural home into the nearest village offering pyrotechnics; at the last minute all piled into my dad's truck and off we dashed. Amazingly the small downtown was not overly crushed with the locals' cars and carrying-on, so it was easy for father to drop mom, my wife, daughter and daughter's friend off at the lake front; I then rode with him as he sought parking which we found a mere four blocks away.
Timing was good: just as we locked up the vehicle the first concussions of explosions aloft hit our ear drums, and since the walk to the boat ramp with its relatively unobstructed view was short we missed little. I'd brought my tripod on the trip with this event in mind as a key element of my photographic opportunities, so I was mentally set to quickly set up my gear at the first reasonable vantage point. Thanks to Jerry's dontation of those incredibly handy finger lights I was able to hurriedly get the camera in place, compose, focus, and begin attempting to capture the skyward celebration.
Perhaps due to both being a small town and a depressed economy
the show was surprisingly short: no more than ten minutes, from start to finish, including those bursts missed while briskly walking down to the lake from the truck. Consequently I managed to capture barely five images. Still, it was lot of fun (a blast, even) as I'd never before attempted to photograph fireworks.
In retrospect I ought to have done at least some minimal research ahead of time as to suggested exposure settings. As it was I took some wild, random guesses ranging from 16 to 38 seconds @ f/11 (ISO 200), utilizing my normal lens. Below is the best of the lot; beyond significant cropping few adjustments have been made to the original - a slight tweaking of curves and some minor sharpening. Enjoy!
Lakeport Fireworks #3975
(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.
(click image for larger version)
Details: July 4, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 38 sec; ISO 200; 38mm.
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