Traditional 4th of July

I spent part of the 4th holiday weekend at an outdoor concert and fireworks. Here is some of the crowd, they were lovely and festive. If you look closely you can see the flags around.

Before going I researched how to take fireworks photos. Some of the websites were quite helpful. Some were a little elitist, "do it this way or not at all." Really? I decided not to take a tripod and remote shutter release, because I didn't want to sacrifice the fun factor for a photo (say that 5 times fast).

And because I am new at this, I just shot off a bunch of photos in a variety of settings just to see what would happen. This one, not quite right on the shutter speed.



This one, I moved. Actually, if I had known the outcome, I might have moved just a bit more, to get an intentional wave effect. Of course, I had no time to think it through, by the time I could see it, it was already fading.



I think this one is getting better.

BTW, there are no people or other things in these shots because we were just so dang close to where they were fired off, it was almost directly overhead. Maybe next year I'll look for a venue where I can shoot over water of something to make them a more interesting composition.




Yeah, pretty!


Not bad either, although a little residual smoke reflection. We did not have much wind, so the later photos show some of the smoke.


I was happy with getting a few good photos of the fireworks. For a beginner and a relatively brief display, I didn't think they were too bad.

Hope you had a fabulous Independence Day!

M.E.