Chris Kirby Photoblog

Last night was fun. We left pretty late, considering it was practically dark once we had gotten in the car, but everything worked out really well. Our spot to watch fireworks this year was Lake Murray, a small local park that occasionally hosts a fireworks show each 4th of July. I went with Nadia and my mother. We initially planned to watch them from the main grounds, like most everyone else. But then I remembered a secret spot that sits you atop a small mountain at the back of the lake. So we took a chance and checked it out. It couldn’t have been better. This hidden spot was probably one of the best seats in the house, because wow, those fireworks were pretty much right in front of us. A good handful of locals and former locals know about the spot, so we definitely weren’t alone up there, but for arriving just moments before the show and still getting an amazing view, plus dealing with slim to no traffic, we were all smiles. It was a blast.

This was my first time shooting fireworks. I used a tripod and an 85 prime at f/8. I tried to keep each shot under four firework bursts, because any more than that would tend to overexpose the shot. The last one was the beginning of the finale, brought down the exposure two full stops in ACR, because it was just so bright. I’m happy with how these turned out. Looking forward to next year!