I hope you all had an amazing Fourth of July weekend! Jake and I definitely had a very busy one, but it was all filled with great activities!
As I mentioned before, Jake and I were invited to attend the DC fireworks from the White House lawn because of his position with the Office of the President. (Very official right?)
So we headed downtown around 3 to get there before the large crowds, and checked out the Smithsonian Folk Festival for a little bit before hand. The Folk Festival has different areas with different themes. This year it had Columbia, Peace Corps and Rhythm and Blues.
The day was definitely a challenge for me shooting wise because of the different locations but especially the different lighting. It was sunny but overcast all day, but brighter where the sun was beginning to set, so I was constantly changing my shutter speed and aperture. I kept my ISO at 200 for most of the day, until it started to get a little darker and I wanted shots of special guests Amos Lee and Train performing.
Finally, the fireworks started and I was able to start my first attempt at shooting them. I did not haul my tripod onto the White House lawn, so most of these are taken just hand held, and some I propped the camera on Jake's shoulder. Our position on the lawn had the fireworks peaking through and over some of the trees on the lawn, which I actually liked. We were also dealing with a cloudy sky and a lack of wind which did cause some smoke to gather. However, all in all I was pretty impressed with what I was able to get
What I really noticed about shooting these, and I am not sure if it was because I had no tripod, but I noticed that while I was taking them I kept thinking they were a lot worse that what they turned out to look like off the camera. I know this is common when shooting anything, but I found it especially true for the fireworks. So my advice is to wait until you get home to really look through them.
I really did have such a great day walking around and experimenting with my photography a bit more before I leave on Friday!!