Thursday, July 5, 2012

Foster City Independence Day 2012 (Fireworks)

Independence Day, or Fourth of July, is a federal holiday where Americans celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 4th, 1776 which declared the US independence from Great Britain. Many Americans (and non-Americans) celebrate by shooting off and watching fireworks, having barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, political speeches, and many other activities. I spent the 2012 4th of July in Foster City, CA. I took photos of the fireworks, the event, and some scenery at Leo J. Ryan Park and Bay Trail. I split the photos of this event into 3 blog posts.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. View my best photos from the event here. View all of my photos from the event here.

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I know I promised I'd start my Monterey photos, but apparently, when I gave out the message, I totally forgot about the 4th of July. I think the 4th of July photos would be more important and might get more attention than my Monterey photos, so again, I have pushed them back. I will upload those after I finish posting my 4th of July photos. Today's photos will be of the fireworks over Central Lake taken at Leo J. Ryan Park in Foster City, CA. The scenery, sunset, and other event photos will come in later posts. All of today's photos is taken at f/22 at ISO 100 with Bulb mode. Make sure you scroll down on today's post! There will be some tips on taking photos of fireworks! Another note, it was extremely cold in Foster City yesterday. I think I might have caught a cold. If there is a delay in the photos, this is why (well and college work).

Before I get started, I would just like to remind you that I made a Facebook Fan page for this photography blog. You can "Like Us" here. I have also made Instagram and Twitter pages. If you follow or "Like" me on these, you can be updated whenever I post something new! :) Please invite your friends too! I'm trying to get more viewers on here. Anyways, as always, enjoy my photos!

You can see a heart shape! :P Isn't the pink a nice color?
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This photo is a combination of the above 2 photos. Pretty sure you can do the math for the exposure time. LOL

Photography Tips: For photographing fireworks, you will need a tripod and a remote shutter release for your camera. You will also need to set your camera on Bulb mode (check your instruction manual for more info as this is different for every camera). In Bulb mode, close down your aperture (high f-stop number). You should use a wide angle lens for this. Wait for the first few fireworks to fire off. Use that time to compose your shot and focus. After your camera reaches focus, set your lens on manual focus and don't touch anything. Use your remote shutter release to start the exposure. For these photos I found a 2-3 minute exposure at f/22 gave great results. It helps to use a timer on your phone to keep track of time as it is not a good idea to touch your camera as the photo is being taken. Experiment with different exposure times as it will vary (depends on how many fireworks are being fired off, how much ambient light is available, etc). It is good to incorporate some famous landmarks or lakes into your shot as this will help make your photo look better. Finally, as you are exposing your photos, don't forget to enjoy the fireworks! 

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I hope you have enjoyed the photos! Please don't forget to share this blog post with your friends! Next time, I will have some event photos from the 4th of July celebration! Also, if you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

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