Fireworks

First off, hope everyone had a nice 4th of July, wherever you were in the country, and with whomever you spent it with. I myself spent it with several of my relatives at my aunt and uncle's place out near the Redlands. Funny thing is, even though we live within a short driving distance from one another, I haven't seen them for almost a year now. Even so, we weren't completely out of touch with each other, and it was great to catch up with them and my cousins who were visiting from the Denver area.

Because we had dinner out by the Redlands, we couldn't see any of the city fireworks that usually happen in the recreational part of town (near the community swimming pool). As such, we all brought several packs of fireworks and spent the better part of the evening lighting them up while indulging in each others company and the available booze.

What follows is a series of photographs I took at an extended exposure (roughly 2-3 seconds for each one, although some were as long as 4 or 5 seconds). Most of them are 'mortar fireworks,' which are fired from a tube and then explode about 60 ft. in midair:


If you look closely on some of these pictures, you'll notice there are two explosions (from two different fireworks) in the same frame. I should note that everything you see here is in camera, with only a few slight adjustments to color saturation, darkness, and contrast (just to enhance the look and make these magnificent images look as much like they did in the sky last night).

(this one was my favorite. After the first explosion, it crackled into smaller parts, giving a nice, interesting texture to the light)

These next two photos are extended exposures of kids that were holding 'firework batons,' or something like that. These batons are essentially long tubes that shoot out balled fireworks in intervals. The box said there are '10 fireballs in every baton,' and while that may be the case, the most that ever shot out of a single baton was 8 (maybe 9).

I enjoy the first photo the most, as the little girl holding the baton is very clear thanks to some backlighting from one of the fireballs, which gives a very nice, crisp silhouette effect.

These last three are extended exposures of sparklers stuck in the ground. The red one on the left had a shutter speed of 1 second, while the 'supernova shots' (as my dad described them), were about 2-2.5 seconds apiece.

I had a great time improving some extended exposure experiments with fireworks, and I hope to further these kinds of experiments in the coming months

On a final note, I'll try and write entries earlier in the day, and not at 9:30 at night...

Happy 4th of July everyone!