Al's Photography Blog

Al's Photography Blog
Pikes Peak As Seen From Our House

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Lightning and Fireworks

I've got a couple of night shots for this week's Skywatch Friday entry. First, here's one of my first lightning captures of the summer, taken this past Thursday evening. The streaks of light at the bottom are cars on a road, as this was a long exposure. I trimmed, scaled, and sharpened it using the free GIMP photo editing software.
Also, here are a couple of fireworks of a different kind, captured handheld on July 4th, at the Air Force Academy display. I used my 50mm lens, opened up all the way to f/1.4, so I could get short enough exposures to shoot without a tripod.
For me one of the highlights of the evening was hearing the orchestra play the famous 1812 Overture before the fireworks started, complete with real cannons (if you're not familiar with the music, Tchaikovsky scored the overture with real cannon fire). Hearing it like that is not an everyday occurrence, and one nice benefit to having major military installations nearby! (The photo on the right is one of the cannons firing.)

For more of my lightning photos, click on the Lightning tag below this post or on the right of the blog.

37 comments:

  1. Your firework photos are awesome, and that sky photo is spectacular!

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  2. Fantastic, stunning captures of the fireworks, Al! Love the lightning shot! Hope your week is going well!

    Sylvia

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  3. So awesome! The fireworks are fantastic...I love seeing them in the sky! Hope I get to see it with music someday :D

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  4. Amazing shots! I also love such lights in darkness. They make great photo subjects.

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  5. Great shots! I guess 'nature's fireworks' aren't introduced by the Overture, though.

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  6. The first picture is really awesome. Great photography of the lightining. And also the firework pictures are also too good.

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  7. Fun night shots! I have never captured lightening but would love to try. :)

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  8. MUY BUENAS IMÁGENES! YO NO SE SACAR FUEGOS ARTIFICIALES Y UN RAYO YA NI ME LO PLANTEO. APARTE QUE ME DAN MUCHO MIEDO.BESOS!

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  9. Awesome night shots. Happy sky watching!

    Liz @ A Simple Life

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  10. Brilliant Al, so different.
    I am impressed with that lighting shot.

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  11. Fantastic shots. We had lighting on July 4 where I live. The lighting and fireworks you shot are great.

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  12. Wonderful post. Great series of photos. Thanks for sharing.

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  13. Wow...love the lightning shot...have wanted to get one of those over the years...haven't done it yet. Excellent! Great fireworks shots as well. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Thank you for sharing the fireworks {God's and man's}
    We didn't have any while visiting Texas ~ too dry!
    It was nice to see these!
    *Happy Weekend to you*
    ~Maria

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  15. I skipped the fireworks show this year, so glad you showed us some here. Great shots.

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  16. Oh, just wonderful that nr 2!! Great work.
    Happy 4th of July a little late...:-)

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  17. These are Beautiful!! Love your photos!

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  18. Amazing pictures -- and what a wonderful experience for Independence Day, wow!

    Colorado is definitely a good place to get lightening pictures.

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  19. Fantastic images! 1812 overature is one of my favorites. It also accompanied the fireworks (with cannons) in DC (we watched on TV)

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  20. Oh that is quite spectacular.

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  21. Looks like the lightning knows he's going to make it to Skywatch, LOL!

    Awesome shot and the fireworks are just as gorgeous.

    I am your follower now. See ya! :)

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  22. Love all your shots and I am very familiar with the 1812 Overture but would not like my ears anywhere near the cannon shots!

    Have a great weekend . . . Arija

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  23. Spectacular shots!

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  24. These are fantastic, Al. I'm so impressed with the lightening. It's not as flashy as the others, but I know how hard that is to do right. Sounds like you had a great 4th!

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  25. Looks like a fun 4th of July! Love the fireworks and the lightning shot. Great captures.
    Happy skywatching and have a wonderful weekend!

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  26. Extraordinary captures, especially I love the 1st 2 pics!

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  27. Wow!! Love all the shots! I have never seen a photo of a cannon being fired before, so that one is really interesting!

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  28. Awesome firework shots handheld, I've tried fireworks and loved the result, but I couldn't manage without the tripod!......:)

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  29. Gorgeous... both lightning and the fireworks. We had rain and most of ours were cancelled.

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  30. Wow! Excellent captures ! Loved the 1st one most.

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  31. We rarely have lightening here. It must be very exciting to see when it 'works'.

    Lucy

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  32. Another signature lightning shot, Al! Very unusually, we had a thunderstorm here yesterday. But it was all murky and pouring rain, with the flashes of lightning hidden by the low clouds. Still, I did think of you!

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  33. Absolutely beautiful firework photos, Al!

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