July 5th

The usual 4th of July fireworks displays around Richmond
were postponed this year due to some crazy thunderstorms.
I was supposed to work at the fairgrounds,
but ended up being trapped in the back of a box truck
for 3 hours waiting for the storm to pass!

They rescheduled the show at Dogwood Dell
for the evening of July 5th.
There's no way I was missing that one;
Fireworks are my favorite :)

f/5
1/250 sec
ISO-400
I used Picnik to edit these--
I don't remember everything I changed,
but most noticable is the temperature,
which I "warmed up" to make the sky look more like dusk :)

f/11
3 sec
ISO-200
I know, the ISO is crazy low,
but I wanted smooth lights & very little noise.
I sharpened & added the "cross process" filter to this.
f/11
3 sec
ISO-200
Cropped, slight contrast bump, & "blur" filter,
to smooth out the light trails.

f/11
3 sec.
ISO-200
Bumped contrast to get rid of stray sparkles.
This one looks like some sort of crazy
black hole supernova ferriswheel. Or something.
;)

f/11
3 sec.
ISO-200
Slightly blurred.
I like this filter on fireworks;
it gives the appearance of a longer shutter speed
(which is nice because I didn't use a tripod,
& 3 seconds was as long as I could hold still!)

f/11
3 sec.
ISO-200
I added the "cross process" filter to this,
as well as some sharpening & blurring
(yes, both. yes, it made a difference).
This is my favorite shot of the night--
probably because it's pink :)

I can't wait until the next time I get to photograph fireworks.
I am already enamored with them,
& now I'm a little obsessed with capturing them on camera.