3rd of July Fireworks

Tonite, we went off to a local fireworks display that we had not yet seen before, so I could get my fireworks fix. It was put on by the sheriff's department, and was at a local elementary school (ontop of a very large hill). There were a lot of families with children.

The show, itself, was okay. It wasn't spectacular, but not bad. They only set out a few fireworks at a time, so in a way it was a bit sparse, which IMO, doesn't make for quite the dramatic photographs. But, their budget was small in comparison to other shows, so I understand the constraints.

On the flip side, it was REALLY REALLY CLOSE. We were about 100 yards away from where they were launching them. There were a few times, I had to go really wide (24mm) in order to catch some shots. I'm glad I brought a wider angle lens.

Unfortunately, despite my sage advice about the remote shutter release, I did not have mine with me. After looking for it, I realized that it had gotten packed with my lighting gear for WesterCon66 and had been put on the truck as of Tuesday before the 4th. :-(

So, I used manual setting with F22 and a 3.2 second shutter speed and a self-timer delay. I tried to time it as best as possible, and luckily, with only a few launches at a time, it worked fairly well.

I hope to get more photos before the weekend goes out, and will post those as I can.