HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

Just thought I would drop in to post a Happy Fourth to everyone. I hope in this day and age that we have our eyes wide open and remember that this day marks the most important day in our lives. Without this single day, We the people, may not have become Americans. We would not enjoy a vast and beautiful country that we can freely travel at any time we choose. We can post our blogs and write our papers in a manner that so many others all over the world can not. So Happy Birthday America!

I spent the day doing two of my favorite things...riding the motorcycle and taking photographs. I rode up to a community north of Tampa called Zephyrhills. It's the place that Zephyrhills Bottled Water comes from. I went there because some friends told me about a new Bar-B-Que place there on US 301. US 301 is a virtual ant trail for bikers. So I stopped in and tried them out. They have only been open for 3 days. I think before I hit them with the Mikey Review, I will let them get up and running a little more. Right now I don't think I would give them more than a "2-wheels" score. Then it was back to Tampa and load up the truck with camera gear so when it got dark, I would be set up for the big fireworks display in the Channelside District of downtown Tampa. I had a little problem with finding a good vantage point. I wanted to shoot from the Port of Tampa, just a little to the left and behind the main body of fireworks. I got down there a couple hours early, however, the new Homeland Security Laws will not let you take photos in the port area. I really wanted to get more of the downtown skyline in the shot. So, I scouted out a new spot that I will keep under my hat for now. It worked out pretty well and let me get a little elevated allowing me to get a different view than the thousands of people that packed into downtown. If you look closely, look from the left of the image and just above the main cluster, there is a burst that looks like a red daisy. It was incredible...I have never seen that type before. I really needed this photo shoot. I don't have any fireworks images in my stock and I have had several calls for them in photo layouts I have done. So now, I have a pretty good start with some nice images. There is a little trick(s) to shooting fireworks. If you really want some good stuff, you have got to have a tri-pod. Next is a cable release or remote trigger. Then some basic knowledge of photography in order to set your camera up for fireworks. I used my Canon 30d with a Tamron 28-85 zoom lens. It's a 2.8 lens, but that really doesn't matter when taking long exposures. I set the camera on manual, including the focus. I set my aperture to 5.6. The shutter speed was set to bulb so I could control the shutter with the remote trigger, usually 1-2 second exposures. Oh yeah, and I shot at an ISO of 125. Easy, right? Until next time...... cya!