Fireworks

Fireworks
Originally uploaded by DriftingPhotographer

I finally figured out how to successfully photograph fireworks, and it was much easier than I expected.

Before I even set up my camera, I contacted the people in charge of the event to determine where the launch site was, and the Idaho State Trooper who was stationed there to determine where I could position myself.

Once I had that information, I set myself upwind (so that the smoke didn't make my photos hazy). After making sure there would be no bright lights in my frame, I set up my camera on the tripod.

For this shot, I unfolded the legs of my tripod so they were almost parallel to the ground, allowing me to position my camera at ground level. This permitted me to include both my foreground subject (the truck), and enough of the sky for the fireworks. How much of the sky to include is a guess, based upon how high the show was last year, how close you are, pure luck.

After the camera was set up, I placed it in manual mode at an aperture of f/8 for a decent depth of field. Fireworks are quite bright, so wide apertures really aren't that suitable for this technique. Shutter speed was set to bulb, and I connected my camera's remote cable and configured it to immediately trigger the shutter when pressed.

Once the show starts, exposure is a matter of timing and guesswork. I pressed the remote's button when the explosion started, and held it down until the explosion dissipated (about 7 seconds or so I think). It's important to use a long exposure to include the entire pattern, as a short exposure would freeze only a small portion of the design.

After about ten tries, I started to get about a 90% success rate.

Night Shots 7: San Diego Bay

San Diego Bay 1
Originally uploaded by DriftingPhotographer

Yeah, I'm skipping around. But this is the latest one and I felt I should post it closer to when I took it...

I was out photographing at the airport when I noticed this scene behind me. Orange glow from the sodium vapor lights over at the navy base, plus a blurry boat and smooth water from the long shutter speed made for a pretty surreal image.

I also grabbed the basic skyline reflecting in water photo, but I felt that this one was the strongest from the night.

Night Shots 2: La Jolla

Windansea2
Originally uploaded by DriftingPhotographer

When I go shooting at night, I typically do it with a friend of mine. I picked the first location. He picked the second.

This photo was taken in La Jolla, CA at a place called Windansea (spelling?). This time, the various light sources made for some really nice colors.

The green from the florescent, orange from sodium vapor street lights, and the whiter from the sky. Shutter speed was pretty slow, thus the blurred water and clouds. The full moon made for some pretty nice lighting

Night Shots 1: Dog Beach Bridge

Dog Beach Bridge
Originally uploaded by DriftingPhotographer

The first photo of my latest obsession, night photography. The world changes at night. Scenes that would normally be perfectly normal and unremarkable in the day become emotional and fascinating at night.

The first photo of the project was the Dog Beach Bridge in Del Mar, CA.

My tripod was set up on the sand under the bridge, at some points almost in the water. The light you see in the center is from passing cars.