fourth of july fireworks
Growing up in the suburbs north of Denver, Fourth of July weekend always meant an outdoor picnic or barbeque at my cousin’s place, lots of watermelon, and fun lighting sparklers and spinners with the neighborhood kids. At night we’d all head out to Webster Lake to watch the fireworks. I remember this one year we actually missed the show because my parents accidently left the keys inside the house as we were all rushing out to beat the crowd. The only way in was through my parent’s bedroom on the second floor. And so, we called up my uncle and he brought over his ladder. My dad climbed over the fence first where my dog was on the other side very excited yet confused at the same time. Eventually, we all ended up in the backyard, pondering over who would be able to climb up the ladder and squeeze through the narrow opening in the window. My younger cousin jumped at the chance, but being five years older than him and hence, more mature, I was clearly more qualified for the task at hand. Because of my accomplishment that night, I can say today with full conviction that I, for once in my life, actually ’saved the day!’
This year I decided to relive my childhood days (without the drama of being locked out) and planned a picnic of my own at Burton Chase Park in Marina Del Rey. My three-course picnic included an apple-potato salad, ciabatta sandwiches with apricot jam, roasted chicken, prosciutto, fontina cheese, and watercress, strawberry-lime chiffon cupcakes with a mascarpone frosting for dessert, and Honest Tea’s Pearfect Tea to drink, which was pearfectly refreshing!
With a couple hours to spare before the fireworks show, I took some candid shots of the people at the park and practiced shooting with longer shutter speeds. Now, the trick to take pictures of fireworks is to use the ‘bulb’ function on your camera at inifinity focus, which just means you set your camera to ‘manual focus’ and look through the lens and locus the lens as far as you can see. The ‘bulb’ function on most cameras can be found by increasing the shutter speed until ‘bulb’ is indicated on the display menu. Setting the camera to the ‘bulb’ exposure allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you hold down the shutter button and so the ‘bulb’ function is the longest shutter speed possible on your camera.
When you’re ready to take pictures of fireworks, simply cover the lens with your hand and press and hold down the shutter button. Uncover the lens when you see a good firework. Hold for about 3 seconds and then cover back the lens with your hand. Repeat this process for the next firework. DO NOT release the shutter button until you want to finish the frame. You can have as many fireworks in one shot as you wish with this method. You don’t necessarily need a tripod, but I highly recommend it. If you want to photograph a still object in front of the fireworks (e.g., Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument), you’ll definitely need a tripod.
So now that you know the trick, go ahead and give it a try next year or if you have the uncontrollable urge right now, Disneyland has their nightly fireworks spectacular all year long!