U.S. Flag - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem
If you live in the United States, I hope you’re enjoying this Independence Day. If you don’t live here, let me summarize the event. In order to celebrate our Declaration of Independence in 1776, citizens of the USA celebrate with high explosives, charred animal flesh, and alcoholic beverages – usually all at the same time. We like it when our Independence Day falls on a weekend, since that allows us to stretch out the celebration a bit.
Here in Central Florida, there are a number of fireworks shows over the weekend. We also have quite a bit of heavy rain this time of year. Last night was no exception, though the fireworks went off at Crane’s Roost in Altamonte Springs, FL. Tonight, there are fireworks shows in my home town of Sanford, and also at Lake Eola in Orlando.
One thing I’ve noticed this year was a plethora of people giving advice on how to photograph fireworks. Seriously, I must’ve read at least a dozen photography blogs with tutorials on the subject. Fortunately, they all seem to agree on the technique and provide fairly consistent information. I tried it out on Friday night at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Although the advice works, it doesn’t teach you everything you need to know. I’ll follow-up later when I post those images and tell you what worked and what I wish I’d done differently.
