Red, White, and Blue
Jul, 2015Views
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BowmanLifeStudios
November 17, 2015
Love this shot! Beautifully timed and Captured... Great composition and edit as well.
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sarahmirkin
November 17, 2015
Thanks so much! I'm so glad! The timing did turn out wonderful! I had no idea what bursts were coming. For editing all I really did was straighten the horizon and brighten the colors a touch...
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this picture in historic St. Augustine, Florida, which is the oldest city in the United States on the 4th of July. The fireworks display takes place over the Matanzas River in between the Castillo de San Marcos historic monument and the Bridge of Lions.Time
While the fireworks display did not start until around 9:30 p.m., my parents and I arrived early around 4 p.m. in order to get a parking spot close by and a spot to sit on the sidewalk right by the chain-linked fence so that nobody would be in front of us. That was important for me for two reasons. First, I am in a wheelchair and cannot see over people. Second, I wanted room for my tripod to be set up. The year I took this, 2014, was the first year that I had ever taken photos of anything with a tripod. The year before this picture was taken, I took pictures of the fireworks using my arm and the arm of my wheelchair as a way to try and steady the shot. When someone I knew found out I was going to be taking photos of the fireworks again in 2014 without a tripod, he gave me his old tripod since he had sold his camera but not his tripod. So I arrived early to figure out how the tripod worked.Lighting
There was lighting from a bridge that had lights on it, which created cool long exposure effects on the water. I experimented learning about shooting with a tripod for long exposures on the bridge while waiting for the fireworks display to start. There were also boats on the water from which people were watching the show, street lights on the sidewalk behind me, and another bridge far off in the distance. This complicated exposing all the elements of the shot, so I just focused on the fireworks.Equipment
This was shot on a Nikon D3100, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens, and with a tripod. Since I am a self-taught amateur, when I bought my camera I did not realize how important the ability to have a shutter release cord ability was. Unfortunately my camera does not have that capability.Inspiration
I have always loved fireworks displays since I was a young kid. I have a lot of physical problems, including a pain disorder that makes shooting photos extremely painful. I do not get to go out and shoot very often due to my body. I usually wind up crying myself to sleep after shooting. However, because I love fireworks so much and what the 4th of July stands for, I wanted to push through and try to see what type of shots I could get, especially since I was given a tripod a few days before. I wanted to attempt getting a shot where there were multiple bursts in it at once all in focus. The fact that the bursts in this shot wound up being red, white, and blue was just an added surprise and bonus!Editing
I just did a few simple post-processing things. I cropped the photo so that some of light pollution that impacted that shot would be eliminated so that it wouldn't take the focus away from the firework bursts themselves. I also straightened the horizon since being in a wheelchair with my pain levels and complications makes it difficult to get the tripod and/or shot completely straight all the time, especially since I have to have help to set up the tripod. I also did a touch of brightening to really make the colors pop, although looking back at the original the colors were already popping.In my camera bag
I have my Nikon D3100, my 18-55mm and 55-200mm kit lenses, and my 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. I also have some low end filters, including a variable ND filter for long exposures and a polarizer. I have cleaning cloths, extra batteries, and an extra SD card.Feedback
So, my method for taking fireworks shots is a little unorthodox. By writing this, I may receive comments telling me that doing this is bad for my camera. Anyway, I did research and saw that most people recommend taking firework shots by setting aperture priority between f/11 and f/15. I have taken shots at both f/11 and f/13. This one was taken at ISO 100, f/13. Instead of setting manual priority with the aperture at that setting and the ability to do bulb for shutter speed - holding the shutter down for the duration of the exposure you want, which I cannot do due to my pain and problems with my hands and fingers, I figured out a work around to achieve the same thing. I went with the aperture priority at f/13. There was a set exposure time with that setting. However, I watched and could tell when one set of bursts were ending and when the next set were getting ready to go up in the sky. So instead of holding my finger down the whole time, I turned my camera off to end the exposure when I saw a burst ending and turned it back on and quickly hit the button to start a new exposure when I saw it starting. Although it may not be the best way to do it, it worked for me with my physical limitations. I would suggest setting the aperture to the f/11 to f/15 range on manual priority and doing bulb for controlling shutter times instead for most people. I tried taking firework shots at another display that had been rained out on the 4th of July and did theirs on Labor Day. One of the things you really have to keep in mind is clouds, wind, and smoke. Make sure that you are located in a spot away from the way the wind will blow the smoke. Almost none of my shots from that shoot turned out. I have also read articles about including other items of interest in the composition of the fireworks shots. I haven't physically been up to going to shoot fireworks the last two 4th of Julys, so I have not been able to try new things although with the setting of this fireworks display, it is more important to me to not have people in front of me than to have additional elements in the composition.
