Super Sparkly!

Already it's July 4th. America's birthday. And about half way through the year.

Time to blow some expensive fireworks up!

The evening had some clouds and a brief rain shower but quickly cleared a couple hours before the show. Temp was in the low 70s with a light breeze - just enough to blow most of the smoke away. Pretty near perfect conditions for an explosive light show.

Starting off with an unusual looking one. Kind of looks like a face, or maybe a skull. Got a well-timed (lucky) capture here.

A big sparkly pair of bursts, nice purple and gold colors.

This one looks tropical to me. Like a big palm tree.

Another big burst, this one with another bright flash just starting in the middle. 

Another burst, this one made up of a lot of smaller explosions.

Finally, a little experiment. I shoot on a tripod for fireworks - you have to. During the time exposure I rocked the camera back and forth, which gave me the effect of the light source swaying around. I took several like this, with different degrees of success. This was one of the better ones.

Timing fireworks is probably harder than herding cats. It's best if you get your camera and tripod all set up before they start. Then just shoot non-stop without paying much attention, look at them after the show. You'll probably get plenty of good shots, a few awesome ones, and some throw aways. 

Have a Super Sparkly day...