Something Different

Yesterday was the 4th of July and that means FIREWORKS!!  Actually, it means a lot more than that but for the sake of photography we will concentrate on the Fireworks part.  This was my first attempt at firework photography.  I wasn't really sure what to expect but I was able to understand some basics after the trip.  The first thing I realized was the aperture was mostly used to control how bright the fireworks were (not completely but mostly) and the shutter controlled how many fireworks you captured at one time.  If you leave the shutter open too long then you get multiple bursts and that tends to muddy up the image.  On the other hand, if you don't leave it open long enough you fail to get the full light spread of the burst.  I found about a 3 second exposure with around an f-8 or greater being the prime.  After this first test trip I am already looking forward to my next firework outing!  Don't be afraid to try something different and if you fail....well, then that likely means you've learned something.