I messed up and they turned out pretty well. We got to the college campus and found that the normal place where we watch had been taken. So we moved over near to where the band was. It was still daylight so I focused on a tree line in the distance then turn off autofocus. Had the camera on my tripod, my camera set for remote, manual setting of f/9.5, shutter speed 2 seconds and ISO 100. As the sun was setting I thought I'd take a photo of the pink sky reflecting off Lake Britian. So I turned camera to aperture priority and took a couple shots. I refocused on the tree line, turned off autofocus and waited. Finally the fireworks started and I began shooting. I wondered why the aperture was staying open so long during some of the shots. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that I forgot to turn the camera back to the manual setting. It was still on aperture priority. My bad!
Frustrating - but got some interesting results. It's a shame these fireworks only happen once a year - would love to have more chance to play with them. Nicely done.
@milaniet - Thank you very much Milanie! Tomorrow night in New Castle, PA will be a fireworks festival. New Castle lays claim to being the Fireworks Capital of America. That is because two prominent fireworks companies have their headquarters in New Castle. Zambelli Internationale and Pyrotecnico. Every year after the 4th one of the two companies puts on a huge fireworks display. We plan on being there. Maybe I will remember to set my camera to manual!
