Sky Sparklers!

Oh yea, just about that time again!  Shooting fireworks can be really rewarding, and frustrating at the same time (especially if you don't like tripods, and I do not.)  The challange comes in getting a good shutters peed ISO combo going. I generally shoot between 1/8 shutter speed and a 30th of a second, at 400 ISO.



The problem with slower shutter speeds is you get the trail off off the fireworks like this shot, and if that's what your going for, (as I was here, for the desired down home effect) works great.  Added a -3 TTL fill flash on this one, just enough to open up the flag and fence a little.

The top photo had enough light to give me a 45th at f5, which gave very sharp trails.



With all the parades and events going on in the heat, don't forget the candid's, and drink a lot of water. (Ok I had to have some way to tie in the cool water shot)



If you can get the timing down, sometimes a daylight shot works, this was one of about 80 frames.