We always spend Independence Day with my in-laws – the family tradition is to spend the day outside shooting off little stuff for the kiddos and put on our own personal fireworks display after dark. I forgot my tripod, but I still managed to get a few fun photos of our fireworks.
This is an image of fireworks taken through the lens of 3D fireworks glasses. I didn’t get much time to experiment – the glasses were very popular with the little ones – so they didn’t want to share very long! The effect was pretty neat though.
At our family fireworks display a few days ago, I wasn’t able to set up the tripod and get typical fireworks photos, because we were so close that I would’ve had to point the camera straight up into the sky. Even if I could’ve done this, the photos wouldn’t have been anything special with no foreground. So I opted to try something different with this shot. I used the “zoom effect” by holding my camera and zooming during a long shutter speed. What do you think?
Fourth of July is the holiday of the year for my in-laws. I won’t even tell you how much they spend on fireworks. We always have a great time hanging out with family, eating too much, watching the kids shoot off small fireworks, and finishing the day with our own personal fireworks display. Here you can see four of the guys (my husband included) stepping back to watch a huge fountain they set off.
My niece Beth enjoyed playing with the sparklers at our family 4th of July celebration last year. Photos of this year’s family celebration to come. I hope all of you who celebrated yesterday had a safe, fun-filled holiday!
To my American friends – happy 4th of July! I took this photo two years ago as the sun was setting before a 4th of July fireworks display.
I’ve always struggled with getting good fireworks photos, but I think this year’s Celebration at the Station was a success. I used a tripod and had my camera setting on a high ISO, wide aperture, and fairly slow shutter speed (1/6 sec.). This is one of my favorites from the evening. What do you think? Is there anything I could have done to improve it?
This weekend we traveled to my in-laws’ to celebrate the 4th of July a little early. Holidays are ranked as follows in this family: #5: Birthdays. #4: Easter. #3: Thanksgiving. #2: Christmas. #1: 4th of July. In fact, we had our very own $600 fireworks display. My father-in-law says, “This is a man’s holiday. We get to drink beer, eat, and blow stuff up.” I hate to burst his bubble, but this female really likes the holiday too.
In addition to my family and my job, I’m thankful for where I live. I love Kansas City – it’s not too big, not too small; most of my friends and family live nearby; and we have some great holiday traditions. The Country Club Plaza Lighting Ceremony tradition began 81 years ago. Believe it or not, this was the first year I’ve seen it. And with such warm weather, it had to be one of the best years!
We had a very busy 4th of July weekend, from Theatre in the Park in Shawnee, to a family celebration in Cherryvale, to hanging out in Louisburg, to the Corporate Woods fireworks display in Overland Park. There were plenty of great photo ops over the last several days. And…I’ve passed the halfway point for my 365 Day Photography Project!
