4th of July pics...my first try at fireworks!

[Robinhood4x4]

I know there's a few photographers here and with Oly's 4th of july pics posted, I figured I should post up mine. Any constructive criticism, good or bad, is welcome. Unfortunately, there was a building in front of us so I could really only get the high ones.

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/IMG_8798e.jpg

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/IMG_8755e.jpg

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/IMG_8677e.jpg

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/IMG_8685e.jpg

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/IMG_8737e.jpg

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/IMG_8687e.jpg

Link to the rest of the pics:
http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/antinode4x4/4th%20of%20July%202011/

[some_odd_girl]

You got some really neat ones! I should put up a few of mine...

[L33T35T Tacoma]

Those are really nice. Fireworks is truly a hard topic to photograph.

[oly884]

Excellent shots! Fireworks are not easy to take photos of to get the proper exposure as well as the WB.

Nicely done!

[some_odd_girl]

Hope you don't mind me tacking one of mine on here... this was one of my favorites from this year, but compared to yours it's not that great haha.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/tiedyedolphin/4b3acfb3.jpg?t=1312394850

[Robinhood4x4]

I must have gotten lucky because I thought it was really easy. Although, I did take well over 100 pictures while tweeking the exposure, so law of averages says eventually some of them will turn out ok.

Basically, I just used bulb mode and a remote shutter release to let the shutter go when I saw the rocket go up. A few seconds later, I'd close the shutter.

Bekah, go right ahead and post your pictures here. I don't mind at all. Nice pic! There were a few of my pictures that turned out squiggly like yours and I think either my tripod was shaking (it's a flimsy tripod) or the parking structure I was on was shaking when cars went by.

I tried my hand at star pictures, both star trails and stationary stars, but haven't had too much luck with that yet. This was much to the chagrin of my wife who had to sit in the car for a few hours while I played.

[some_odd_girl]

Actually, I think the squiggles are from the embers or whatever falling. I thought it looked pretty neat. I have some others, I did pretty much the same thing - put it on bulb with a remote shutter release. I haven't edited any others though. Star trails are a bit difficult. Depending on the moon phase, you should have your aperture at around f8. For still shots, if your camera can handle ISO 800 or up, do that, and leave it open for no longer than 45 seconds or you'll get some movement. If it's too dark, you can have a wider open aperture. For trails, f8 usually works pretty well, ISO 600 or 800 depending how long you want it open. I've done 40 minutes before, they turned out decent, I could find a few and post them up if you'd like to see. :)

[DHC6twinotter]

Those are some awesome pictures! I really need to get one of those fancy cameras.

[04 Rocko Taco]

Yes Bekah, we would like to see. :)

[some_odd_girl]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/tiedyedolphin/5946a628.jpg?t=1312526704

^^ There was a decent moon that night

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/tiedyedolphin/2fdab35c.jpg?t=1312526906

^^ No stars, but I love this shot :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/tiedyedolphin/68bfce65.jpg?t=1312526910

^^ Out in the mountains

[slomatt]

Well now that Steve's fireworks thread is really off track I feel obligated to join in. :)

Here's a 10 minute ISO 100 exposure I took on a camping trip a few weeks ago. This was shot using a remote and bulb mode.
http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/albums/t4r_barker_pass_20110716/IMG_3543.jpg

I was also having fun taking shots of the fire.
http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/albums/t4r_barker_pass_20110716/IMG_3533.jpg

http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/albums/t4r_barker_pass_20110716/IMG_3533.jpg

Here's a 2 minute exposure of Ocean Beach in SF taken at midnight.

http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/albums/night_photography/eIMG_0385.jpg


More shots here if you are interested : http://www.blankwhitepage.com/gallery/night_photography

(sorry Steve, hope you don't mind. :))

- Matt

[some_odd_girl]

I really like that top one! :)

[Robinhood4x4]

Very nice, both of you.

Fire is always fun to shoot. I need to do some more camping since I haven't gone at all this year.

[some_odd_girl]

I haven't gone camping either. Except for my geology trip. I miss it so!