July 4 Fireworks

I've wanted to photograph fireworks for a while but never got around to it. Well this year I did it. I hauled my DSLR and tripod to the Potomac River bank in Virginia and set up opposite the capitol mall. As usual, there were enough boats to almost walk across the river. This year, the event is in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crowds on shore were sparse, but the river was packed. Last time, we had a nice spot, settled in, and just as the show was about to start, a dinner cruise boat (Odyssey I'm still mad at you) sailed up and partially blocked the view while spewing stinky exhaust. At least this year the pandemic kept the big boats away.

Boats on the Potomac

I've actually seen this show twice before: once from the south lawn of the White House (very cool), and once from the Virginia shore. This was a return to the same general area on the Virginia shore. Previous experience lulled me into a sense that I knew what would happen. The show was different this time. Previously, the fireworks launched from alongside the Reflecting Pool. This year, the launch was from two distinct spots, one around the base of the Washington Monument and I think the other spot was on the Georgetown Waterfront Park. Well, I set up to shoot the area that was visually between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial and figured out pretty fast that was a bad choice when fireworks started launching from the extreme left and right of my composition. I tried that for a while but switched to concentrating on the Washington Monument, which turned out to be a good choice.

Two Shows at Once

So I recomposed, which then undid my careful horizon leveling job that I did in the daylight. After the fact, I had to straighten almost all of my photos. Now and then good reflections on the water showed the silhouettes of the many boats, including the one boat with the American flag lights.

Fireworks Around the Washington Monument

The variety of fireworks made for a lot of unique shots.

Fireworks

I had my camera on a tripod, in bulb mode, focused on infinity, ISO 100 (yes 100, the lights are bright) and f11 (for depth of field, and again the lights are bright). I had a wired remote trigger that tripped the shutter and held it open for as long as I held the button. I experimented with short exposures and longer ones and watched the results on the rear screen. I quickly learned that the bright white fireworks will blow the highlights out, so when I saw those I went for shorter exposures. Otherwise, I just sat and waited for rising fireworks, triggered, held it open for the burst, then closed the shutter and waited for the next sequence.

Fireworks

I liked the sequences with colors and reflections, although I wish there were fewer boats in the foreground.

Colors and Reflections

After a while, the altitude of the bursts got higher and I had to recompose and zoom out. This meant some of the shots have a tree in the foreground: I wasn't expecting to be shooting in that direction. I was able to crop the tree out of most of the shots that I cared about.

Higher Bursts

Eventually we got to the big finish.

Big Finish

OK, lessons learned:

• That was waaay more fun than I expected.
• The launch site at Georgetown stopped launching about a third of the way into the other show; I made the right choice to concentrate on the Washington Monument. Actually I hope they keep launching from that site in the future because I think it looks better than when they launch from the Reflecting Pool area.
• Every now and then an airplane would pass in the background, or a helicopter would pass closer in the background. Their light trails appear in some of the photos. Annoying, but easy to remove if they're not among the fireworks bursts.
• Next time, choose a spot that will have less chance of obstructions in case I have to recompose in the dark. Also, bring and use a spirit level.

Edit:

I wrote the text above on July 5, 2020. Rereading this on July 3, 2021, I realize that I left some details out. I’m planning to go again to the fireworks show tomorrow. So I also reviewed my photos from last year. This leads me to the following plan for tomorrow:

• F11, ISO 100, 24mm, 1-3 second exposures on bulb mode, autofocus OFF, focus at infinity.
• Use a wired remote trigger.
• The launch site is either side of the reflecting pool, unlike last year. While there’s still daylight, get the tripod set up with the camera viewing a LEVEL horizon.
• Bring a flashlight so it’s possible to see what I’m doing if I have to fiddle with the tripod or camera in the dark.