Bang, Zoom Go The Fireworks!

One of the goals I had when I bought my first SLR was to learn to photograph fireworks. It's a challenge for some obvious reasons. One kind of has to know exactly where in the sky to point the camera, and fireworks have a tendency to blow up wherever they please. It's hard to change your aim quickly with a tripod, and you really have to capture those first few explosions, before the sky becomes too full of smoke. There's technical stuff, too. You need long exposures and a closed-down lens, but long exposure equals Hold Still! and too small an aperture means thin, weak images. If it sounds like all this would ruin the fun of watching fireworks, it does. But sometimes the results are totally worth the effort.

The two shots above were taken July 4, 1988 at Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, Maryland.

Desert Storm Victory Celebration in Washington, DC - 1991. See - I had no tripod for this one, and the result is a squiggly monster. Still, I was proud just to have been there.

January, 1995 - Fireworks over Charlotte Amalie Harbor, St. Thomas, USVI in celebration of the inauguration of Governor Roy Schneider. Again, no tripod. Again, I was proud just to be there.

Frederick, MD in 1995 following a Keys game.

Washington, DC - July 4, 1990

Join us next time, as we discover that yes, it IS possible to take a bad picture in paradise. It's just not easy... :)