Yes, I know I’m a little late with the fireworks pics but oh well. The fireworks in Auburn were good as always, the only thing that just kills me every year is they don’t go high enough in the sky to get up over the power lines, and I have tried different locations every year. You can see from the grande finale shot above that Alabama Power just had to be front and center, otherwise, I love the shot. Each year they do this outdoor festival thing, which is more akin to thousands of people sitting around in the park waiting for the fireworks, but it is a great opportunity to shoot. It’s always a good show but hours of waiting and fighting the traffic afterwards for 10 minutes of fireworks has me thinking we might try a new show next year. Boston Pops would be cool.
Posts Related to This Topic:
Each year we usually go see the fireworks put on by the city of Auburn, and this year they were worth the wait. I wanted to post a very quick video of the finale, in part for a friend of mine who didn’t come out to see the fireworks saying he would prefer to watch them on the computer, so here they are. I also wanted to test the video quality of my iPhone while shooting at night, not bad video for a phone. Too see the full 720p HD version change the resolution below or click on the video.
Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.
Posts Related to This Topic:
I love expanding my photographic abilities and learning new ways to be creative, it just isn’t as easy as it sounds some time. Light painting photography seems to be all the rage now but it is something I tried when I shot my first photos of fireworks back in 1997. It just looked so neat that I had to try it again and again before I finally figured out what was going on photographically.
What is really interesting is if you look at the definition of photography, it needs no other word (like “light”) in front of it to give it meaning.
pho·tog·ra·phy [fuh-tog-ruh-fee] noun
the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays.
In other words, photography is “painting with light”. Without light in pure darkness photography actually isn’t possible, but add any light to anything, and you can record what that light does on a specific medium or surface.
Light Painting Photography
Light paint photography (more accurately called low light photography), or just “light painting” to use the trendy phase at the moment, uses just about the same techniques as lightning photography, or fireworks photography (see a few examples at How to Successfully Photograph Lightning // Equipment and Techniques, Auburn 4th of July Fireworks Celebration // Photos, or Do it Yourself Low Light Fireworks Photography). Coming up I might write a how-to do light painting photography just for the few differences it has over the above posts, so stay tuned.
A recent photo shoot with b/ turned out to produce a whole lot of duds for the intended purpose, but it was loads of fun trying. Below are two of my favorites from that particular night. I have several other “favorites” but will save them for later. This is really one of the easiest forms of photography, for me, since you can control most all the variables and bring the technique down to just holding a button down for the “painting”.
One thing I mentioned above is to try something new and get creative. I don’t know about other “creative” types (and I don’t really consider myself all that creative) but I need to have the right atmosphere and surroundings to get my brain thinking outside the box. This was something we tried that didn’t work all that well for what we were doing, but taking the time to try keeps you thinking.
Catalyst08 – The Catalyst Conference in Atlanta
One other way to get creative, go to where the creative people go and learn from them. In this case, this week, that will be the Catalyst Conference (see their really cool blog here) in Atlanta for me (and gotroot). Catalyst is a leadership conference for what is the Church of tomorrow (see about), something I have been looking forward to for quite a while.
Tomorrow I will update this information in more detail and how to follow along. I will be spending a good bit of my time photographing the event as well (sorry in advance to those going with me) and will post event photos here on Thrusday and Friday as soon as I can get them uploaded. In the mean time, I leave you with some light painting.
Posts Related to This Topic:
Last night we went to see the fireworks display in Auburn. It was a very enjoyable night to have even just an hour or so to hang out with some friends and family while we waited for the fireworks. The fireworks display that the city of Auburn Alabama puts on each year is great, and we have been to see fireworks all over the country.
This year they started a little early, we presume because a storm was on its way, but they were still great to see. I decided to take my camera equipment and do some fireworks photography this year. I have not shot any public fireworks display in many years, but still came away with a few good shots.
Normally when doing fireworks photography you want to setup using a sturdy tripod so you can use your remote shuttle release in manual mode, but I found another Auburn photographer on Twitter (ToomersCoffee) who also got some great shots hand holding with a faster ISO.
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.
Posts Related to This Topic:
Low light photography is probably one of my favorite genres or areas of photography. It has so many possibilities and you can really get something special that the eye doesn’t always notice. One easy way to try out low light photography is with the 4th of July holiday (for those here in the U.S) or on New Year’s Eve. You can of course accomplish this at any time of the year, all you really need are healthy collection of sparklers, but the opportunities during those two times of year make it quite easy.
The camera is going to record any light source you have, so the bright lights of a fireworks display or something like this sparkler above is good place to start. The only light source in the photo above is the sparkler, but notice it also is enough to light up the subject as well. You will of course need a camera, and some type of support (like a tripod) would help, but is not totally necessary. This shot above was taken hand held and the exposure was placed on the sparker itself.
If you want to try something other than the program mode or automatic settings, place your camera on the “bulb” shutter speed setting, and hold the exposure open for different amounts of time depending on what effect you want to see. The concept is very similar to photographing lightning. For a full and detailed explanation on how lightning photography is done, see How to Successfully and Safely Photograph Lightning. If you can place the camera on a sold surface or tripod it will greatly help the sharpness of the image.
Since most of us now use a digital camera, just shoot away and experiment with different settings until you get the desired results. I have created several posts on low light photography, you can also see these on my low light gallery. Any questions at all just ask.
