Salt Lake Fireworks

I had some focus problems and I think wind may have caused some camera shake with some, but I got a couple of good ones. And now that I've finally tried shooting fireworks and encountered the problems myself, next time I'll do it better. These were shot up on "the bench." That's up the slope of the Wasatch mountains that rise up out of the East side of Salt lake City. I believe the mountains in the background are actually Antelope Island, in the Great Salt Lake.

Here's one from about an hour before the fireworks. I'm posting it because you can see the lake. I think it's neat. This is west over Salt Lake City, just south of downtown.

Interesting, did you have any glass in front of the lens?
Because I can see a reflection like I got on my 20D/Sigma 80-400, the two lights lower left above the oJ of Photo John appear to be dimly reflected to the right of the red/blue firework.
Is that an off-centre crop of the full frame?

Antelope Island is little further north, but I think you are actually thinking of Stansbury Island
The Oquirrhs are the range that is on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.
I was thinking of you last night, I was wondering if you got the picture you were looking for.
Brian

Nice work John. Maybe next year we start a new thread to toss about experiences and ideas to correct problems we all face. I was hoping to do something similar here on my shots (getting some of the city), but I didn't scout my locations before hand and wound up in between the city and the fireworks.
Take care

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Originally Posted by mtbbrian

Antelope Island is little further north, but I think you are actually thinking of Stansbury Island
The Oquirrhs are the range that is on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.
I was thinking of you last night, I was wondering if you got the picture you were looking for.
Brian

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Thanks, Brian. It probably is Stansbury Island. It's not the Oquirrhs because there was water in between the city and the mountains. I didn't find a suitable spot to shoot the photo I wanted. I drove out to the airport and around the industrial neigborhoods to the south but never found a spot with any elevation. I ended up driving up 3300 and shooting from a school on Foothill. It was packed with other people there to watch fireworks. It's a great location for shooting. But not what I planned for. Being flexible is good though. If I was too particular I would have ended up staying home and taking no pictures at all :)

I sent you an e-mail this morning about riding. Give me a call...

Oh, hey, a little late on the thread, but I got a bit from the 4th in Salt Lake also. I was down in Sugarhouse for the show. The entire park gets covered in people, it's crazy too see. Neighbors sell yard space for parking. Luckily I can just walk though! Anyway, here's my favorite from the evening...

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Originally Posted by WCpilot

here's my favorite from the evening...

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That's a nice one. That was at the end, right? What was your exposure time?

That was 4 sec at f/8 iso 200. It was the very beginning of the finale. even at 4 sec, the rest of the finale had a ton of blown highlights. then i pushed the saturation quite a bit in ps, about +40 i think.

really like the shots.. I took pics in utah county of the stadium of fire. I had a hard time with the wind and I didnt have a remote... so you live and learn and try again right?