A Little Trick Photography

Thanks to Mother Nature, I currently stand at 0-2 when it comes to trying to get some fresh photographs of the 2013 L'International des Feux Loto-Québec.  While the rain that had soaked the area all day did manage to end before the show, the sky was still pretty much full of heavy clouds.  As a result, the camera stayed home once again as I watch the show from the street.  Lucky for you, kind reader, I only opened this blog up last year so I still have a rather large supply of unseen fireworks shots to share with you in times like this when the weather doesn't co-operate.  This shot was taken back in 2010 from a biking path in Seaway Park, Saint-Lambert.  It's also a little bit of a trick shot.  One technique I learned for taking photographs of fireworks  involves using a long exposure time, but blocking the lens during some of the shot.  You can use this technique as a way to capture multiple blasts during the show.  To illustrate, the little block of red & white fireworks happened first, I then blocked my lens using my grey card (there's another reason why you should always have one with you) and pulled back the card when the circular fireworks went off.  I'd like to say I planned it as such, but the truth is that you need some luck.  There is no way to know what kind of fireworks will follow each other, so there is lots of trial and error involved.  Thankfully, we're in the digital age so I didn't have to waste several rolls of film to get this one photograph.  It was taken at f/14, 17sec, ISO 100 at 64mm.  Again, the 17 second exposure time is kind of misleading as the lens was only really open for maybe eight of those.  As an added bonus, I also framed the shot so that the bottom of my photograph would capture the light trails of the traffic passing by.  Hopefully the sky will clear during some of the remaining seven shows so that I can try and use this method of taking photographs of fireworks again.