I double dog dare you & me!

I had great plans to have a fabulous 4th of July photo contest where you had ample time to gear up and ready yourself for greatness.  Instead, it is 12:15 on the 4th of July and since we arrived home from camping way to late last night to even consider any creativity an option, I am just now tackling the project.  The participators may be few, but still the challenge will continue.  I want to see some spectacular fireworks photos!  I have never even tried, so this challenge is issued to myself as well.  Thanks to Me Ra Koh (an amazing Seattle photographer who will knock your socks off) here are three Fireworks photo recipes to help you capture that jaw-dropping work of art that will instill wonder and awe upon all who gaze upon the image.  Email your photos to kcbphotography@gmail.com by July 7th and we’ll use our super skills to name a winner.  As you can tell, this competition is well thought out, but it will be fun.  Happy shooting!

One way to get firework photos is to…

1. Set your camera on AV or A mode. This means aperture priority, where you decide how blurry your background is. Since we’re wanting fireworks, we want more detail than any thing else. So bump up your aperture to somewhere between an F11 to F16.

2. The lower your ISO (or what we once knew as film speed), the richer your color. We want deep, rich colors for this shot, so bring your ISO down to 100 (canon) or 200 (nikon).

3. If you have a tripod great, set it up! If you don’t have a tripod or have two kids under five to manage (like me) use a table top. Since you set your camera in AV or A mode, your camera will determine how long your shutter needs to stay open to record the light from the fireworks.

4. When you see the fireworks go off, push your shutter release button (the button you push when you’re taking photos), gently let go, and let the shutter stay open as long as it needs too. When you hear the click, that means the shutter closed. It may take a few long seconds for the image to record before you can view it in on the back of your camera.

5. Is the image dark? Look at your image, click your info button and see what the camera decided the shutter speed should be. Switch from AV mode to Manuel (M). (you can do this! stick with me!) Set your aperture at the f-stop you chose (somewhere between F11 to F16), and then adjust your shutter speed so it stays open longer than what the camera had decided. Example, you took the photo in AV mode. The camera decided to stay open for 4 seconds. But it wasn’t long enough because the image is to dark. Move to Manuel, set your aperture back, set the shutter to stay open for 6 seconds (two seconds longer) and try again.

6. Is the image to bright? You basically do what we did in step 5, except this time you adjust your shutter so it DOESN’T stay open as long. If your photo was to bright or overexposed, the shutter stayed open to long and let to much light in. We just need to speed that shutter speed up a bit. Maybe have it stay open for 1 second instead of 4 seconds.

Okay, here’s a second way to try this…

1. Set your ISO to 100.

2. Set your camera on Manuel mode.

3. Set your aperture to F11 or F16. Remember, the higher the number in our aperture, the more detail we have.

4. Set your shutter speed to 4 seconds long.

5. When the fireworks go off, click your button, wait for the shutter to close.

6. Check to see if it’s to bright or to dark and then just adjust your shutter speed accordingly.

You don’t need a tripod for these shots.  Idea number three!

Pictures of your kids playing with sparklers!

1. Set your ISO to 100.

2. Set your camera in Manuel mode.

3. Set your aperture to F8.

4. Set your shutter speed to 1 second.

5. Have your little one twirl their sparkler in front of your camera while the shutter is open (make sure the camera is on a table or something that isn’t going to move).

You should see a trail of light for every direction they twirled their sparkler. If not, slow your shutter speed down even more. This can be a ton of fun!

Okay, you seriously better send me what you get!

Have a wonderful 4th of July! And a huge shout out again to Me Ra for these fireworks pointers.  Whichever one you choose to try, I know it will be grand!