My compact camera, a PowerShot SD850 IS, has a fireworks setting/mode. I tried it out last night for fewer than 10 photos. The photos you see here were taken with the night snapshot mode with no flash. I am much happier with them. I wasn’t entirely planning to take photos of the fireworks, so the big camera stayed home. I like how these shots came out in part because they’re so different from what I saw. Anthony posted some gorgeous photos of the same fireworks over on Facebook. He planned ahead and brought his big camera and a tripod.
I love how his shots came out – you can see the trees and the house and really get a sense of scale. Next year I’ll probably bring the tripod and big camera too and play with exposure times. I think with more control I’ll get some really fun photos. Other shots I took last night can be found here. Yes, this was a backyard fireworks display, set to music of course. We were close enough that lots of debris fell on us. (Nothing exciting like burning ash… just bits of cardboard. I think.)
Yesterday was wonderful really… we drove up to the Fop’s aunt’s house where she had prepared enough delicious cookout food for an army. She’s amazing. Her husband prepared the fireworks display. Fun, food, fireworks: all the appropriate elements for a holiday weekend. I would prefer if the 5-6 hours in the car were optional, but the day rocked anyway. (And my car really does like to quietly creep up to 90 mph.)