Tag Archives: fireworks

Interesting Perspective of Fireworks 2021

Hello Friends,

And welcome to your annual post-Indepedence Day hangover. I have to say that having the 4th on a Sunday really makes for a nice, relaxing Monday. Right?

So yesterday I took the drone out to a couple of places I hadn’t been before to check them out and get some shots. I’ll post those later, although I took mostly video. Anyway, when the sun went down and it got dark, of course all the neighborhood crazies came out and turned our quiet, little area into a war zone. Needless to say I had to drug the dog again to get him to calm down, but once he started to relax and I took the drone out again to get a few photographs of the fireworks from the air.

I have never flown the drone at night, but I am perfectly legal and licensed to do it, so I put it up but didn’t move it one-inch from straight up (I really want to be in a more open area for extended night operations). I adjusted the camera settings and started shooting.

This is a real cool perspective-much different that from the ground. But one thing that I noticed was different was with a light breeze having an open shutter on the camera creates a little background out-of-focus blur. That’s ok for these shots as the fireworks themselves turned out good, but of course I would rather have no movement on my camera when the shutter is open.

Nevertheless, I am happy with these photographs. I hope that you enjoy them too. (see more of my fireworks photos at the following link: https://chrismckennaphotography.com/2019/07/fireworks-2019/ )

Blessings,

Chris

Posted in Drone Photography, Event Photography Also tagged , , , , , |

Fireworks 2019

Hi all.

I’m not going to spent a lot of time telling a story about yesterday, but I wanted to post a few pics I took of the neighborhood fireworks.

Thanks to Joe and Leslie for letting us crash your place this evening.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Event Photography, General Also tagged , , , |

Fireworks 2013

So for years I’ve always posted and reposted tips on getting great firework photographs and have yet to post any of my own (that is without having to dig through the archives). This year was going to be different-a trip out to the big firework display with lots and lots of new and exciting photo’s to post. But, the dogs wouldn’t hear of letting us go away. If any of you are aware, the last 3 years have been especially challenging for us with keeping our animals under control during the days leading up to and following the holiday (they have escaped the yard the last couple of years and have been lost and gone for hours and hours). So once again we were forced to be at home.

Nevertheless, there are usually plenty of opportunities to get cool photographs of fireworks around your own house. The pictures I post here are just a few of the ones that I shot just around my own abode. Ok, they are not as spectacular as those you might capture at a large fireworks display, but still cool.

Anyway, enjoy and perhaps next year we can post some photographs from a larger display.

Blessings,

Chris

P.S. If you are an individual that likes to set off fireworks around your house, please be responsible and clean up your mess. Lynette and I took a walk around our neighborhood yesterday and both of us were disgusted at the amount of firework trash left to rot in the street. Do the right and responsible thing and clean-up after yourself please. Your neighbors will appreciate it

Posted in Event Photography, Photography Tips & Techniques Also tagged , , , |

Tips for Great Fireworks Pictures

SOLFW_smallIndependence Day is just a few days away, and if you are like me, you love to take pictures of all the day’s events, including fireworks displays. While your average family snapshots are a breeze with most of today’s automatic point-and-shoot and semi-automatic cameras, capturing fireworks can be somewhat tricky. So I have prepared a few tips to help you make the most of those opportunities.

    1.  Find a good display to photograph and get as close as possible. Nothing is worse than a meager display or being so far removed from the action that the display is overshadowed by the back of the crowd.

    2. Usually, using a tripod is my number 1 tip, but although I have relegated it to number 2 here it is still important nonetheless. The reason I say use a tripod is that because it is dark you will need a long exposure to capture the burst and to avoid a blurry picture. Even with today’s anti-shake technology built into cameras and lenses blurry pictures will result from even the slightest movement in a long exposure picture.

    3. Some of today’s new cameras may actually have a “fireworks” mode, and if so, set it to that (I am not intimately familiar with every make and model of camera, sorry folks). If not, put your camera in manual mode and set the shutter speed to 5 seconds, aperture to f8, and ISO to 200 for starters. Snap an image and see how in looks. If needed, adjust only the shutter speed, leaving aperture and ISO as is. A longer shutter speed will allow the burst to expand in your image. But beware, at the end of the show fireworks usually come in fast and furious, so a slower shutter speed may overexpose the image. Adjust down as needed.

    4. If you can, include a landmark in your image. This will help with scale and may provide some relevance. Also, as the fireworks burst over or near that landmarks, they will illuminate it nicely.

    5. Take a lot of photos and discard the bad ones! Digital camera allow us to take a lot of photos with no cost, so shoot away. And ask yourself the question when editing that is always asked of me: “what are you going to do with that picture?” If the answer is not post in my online album, share with friends, or print and/or frame, then maybe it needs to end up in your computers recycle bin.

      Best wishes for great fireworks photos and from my family to yours, have a safe and sane 4th of July!

      Blessings,

      Chris.

      Posted in Photography Tips & Techniques Also tagged , , |