July 4th, Philly Style

Okay, I'm doing a lot of catching up this week on my photos, and I've been meaning to post some July 4th pics that I took from our roof-top deck here in Philadelphia. I was pleased with the results, especially considering that I hand-held the fireworks shots with no tripod. The dramatic advances of digital photography in the last 5-6 years is not lost on me - these shots would not have been possible a few years ago. I did some experimenting with my EOS 50D by cranking up the ISO setting to 12800, and while a few of them are pretty grainy with close inspection, the images were pretty workable in post. These were taken using my image stabilized Canon 24-105 f/4L lens.

The image above is my favorite fireworks shot of the bunch - rockets going off in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This is a close-up of some explosions seemingly right above the Philadelphian - a major residential high-rise a few blocks from our place.

This is our view of the Philly skyline from our deck. I have to admit that I was very impressed with the EOS 50D after looking at this picture on the big screen the next morning. This image was captured using ISO 12800 after dusk, and I was pretty blown away by the quality of the image - this was the first I'd seriously experimented with such a high ISO setting; certainly not perfect, but a workable image nonetheless.

A different take on fireworks - I always look for a B&W perspective in any shot, and I found the contrast between light and dark areas in this one appealing.

My wife Vandra (left) and our friend Robin take in the fireworks from our deck.

My friend and former coworker Ross - always a ham for the camera.

Mr. Mike - shaken, not stirred. I love doing intentional camera shake, esp. when light is low, for a different look.

My friends Ryan and Kali walking down our circular stairs; after a long hot afternoon & night & a, ahem, a few cold beers, it took me *just a few* tries to get this one right - thanks for the patience, guys!

For more of my July 4th images, click Here to visit my Facebook photography page.

Images from our Philly Fourth of July

I really didn't take that many pictures this Fourth of July, but I did take a few from our rooftop deck, with varied success. I have to confess I was too lazy to get my EOS 5D out while there were so many people at our condo (and while I was consuming alcohol); if something were to happen to my HP camera, I wouldn't be nearly as upset as I would if something happened to the EOS. But, I did the best I could with the HP. On to the images...

I know this is out of focus, but I like it anyway. Maybe I should just say I used a hazing filter? Our cat Butter was sitting, against his will, on my lap, and I took my camera and turned it around and snapped it. I always have to sneak snap him, because 99 percent of the time, he's not a willing subject for photographs.

HP Photosmart R967, ISO 100, Program Mode

This is from our balcony as we were watching the fireworks, during a lull in the action. I set my HP to program, knowing it would select a drag shutter speed, and I just moved my camera a little, to dramatic results.

HP Photosmart R967, ISO 400, Program Mode

For the following pics, I set my HP to ISO 400, and put the camera on our railing. I set the camera to self timer 2 mode, where it takes two pictures. Some were hits and some were misses. Here are some of the hits...