Two part post today both having to do with things fireworks inspire, like kissing. Brian knows this well since he kissed me for the first time eleven years ago today. 🙂 (and the fireworks are still going off) It seems they went off when John and Lauren kissed too!

Part 2 is three different exercises to try when capturing fireworks tonight with your cameras. Enjoy!

Part 1–John and Lauren!

When John first called me a year ago about our wedding photography, we spent over an hour on the phone. It was a marathon conversation, and he later told me that he’s never talked to anyone that long! We were meant to become good friends! 🙂

John and Lauren have this fantastic, funky style about them. They wanted their engagement shoot done in an alley in Santa Monica, CA. Their wedding reception was in a fantastic garage in LA. They had awesome invitations made that fold out on all sides.

My favorite is the last insert in their invitation! How cool is this!

When Brian and I showed up for their wedding, they had a big surprise for us! It was their wedding day, and they were excited to give us a surprise!

Instead of programs at the ceremony, they had their cousin design a retro style Playbill for the reception. Inside was a full page ad of our wedding photography! How can you not be speechless with clients like this!

Yesterday, I spent almost three hours on their slideshow. I got way to hyper focused in wanting it to be perfect. I’m so excited for you to see it! John and Lauren’s wedding was incredible. I think I cried half a dozen times while working on the slideshow and remembering how special this event was for Brian and I (which is probably why it took so long!). 🙂

Brian and i love you John and Lauren! We can’t wait to be back in LA and see you two again!

**Click here** to see John and Lauren’s Slideshow!

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Part 2–Capturing the Fireworks with Your Camera!

This second part was a last minute post, and Lori Momberg was so great to send me a couple of her fireworks photos. Lori and her husband are wedding photographers based out of Minnesota, you’ll have to check out their great site!

I love how Lori has the tree line and water reflection in this image! If you can manage some foreground stuff like this it really accentuates the fireworks in the sky. But how do we shoot these in the first place? Lots of different ways. Here’s two! (actually three if you’re up to it!)

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. A while back I did a tips post on ISO. 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 six 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.

(I hope this makes sense, and isn’t to confusing! Brian dresses up as Professor T in DVD 2, and does a great skit on understanding shutter speed. I almost pee my pants, every time I watch it. 🙂 You’ll love it!)

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. Lori said she held her camera in between her knees and tried to keep really still. 🙂

Idea number three! 🙂 (you’re getting me excited for tonight!)

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!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

For information on Me Ra’s popular photography workshops and DVD series for parents, visit DVD series and “Documenting a Child’s Life.”

To see our day job, visit our website. 🙂