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I've always wanted to photograph fireworks, and since State College, Pennsylvania, was having a massive firework display for July 4, it seemed like a good opportunity. However, it would have been too easy going to the viewing site itself. We went to a place about a mile or so from the actual spot.
I had no idea which lens would be best, so I took a long telephoto and a moderate telephoto (not to mention a tripod). I also had a cable release, since I expected to be taking long exposures. In the beginning, I did take a few long exposures, but after checking my results (one has to love digital cameras), I switched to shorter and shorter exposures. All in all, I took around 300 photos (in something less than an hour). I selected twenty favorites and then narrowed it down to the ten which follow.
The thumbnails open to larger photos (varying from 40 to 85K).
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Starry night: The long telephoto lens concentrated on aspects of any particular firework. This one reminds me of a view of deep space - of galaxies and nebulae.
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400mm: It's fun to trace the light track.
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Corkscrew: The exposure was only for a half second, but those fireworks traveled very, very fast.
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Action: Rockets are launching, fireworks are opening, and fireworks are fading. A little bit of everything. By this point, I switched to the moderate length lens to begin capturing an overview.
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Sue favorite: When Sue and I first went through the photographs, I marked each of our early favorites.
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Chet favorite: Although the photo is somewhat overexposed, I liked the long rocket trails and the intensity of the bursts.
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Sue favorite: Sue particularly liked the delicate nature of several firework photos.
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Redon: Redon? Yes, the image reminds me of something that Odilon Redon might have painted. I can see the caption: "Three eyes open for a moment of life."
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Gold night: Toward the end of the display, fireworks were going off at a faster and faster rate.
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Conclusion: By the end of the evening, I was shorting at a fifth of a second, with the lens closed down to f32, and I still had overexposed photos. This, however, was one of my more successful shots.
Photography note: All the photos were taken with the Pentax *ist D. I used SMC 400-600mm lens for the first three and the SMC 105mm (with a 1.4x multiplier) for the remaining seven.
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