Coney Island Knights: The Fireworks and The MoonFriday, September 4th, 2009

Coney Island Knight Sky Fireworks
Captured Using The CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release

Remember that CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release accessory that I blogged about last month in August 2009? Well, this blog entry is the reason why I bought the CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release and had that bad boy air mailed to me straight from Hong Kong ($35 duckets with shipping included!).

CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release Accessory

When you're shooting fireworks the camera has to be on a tripod for steady shots. Otherwise you'll create "camera shake" if you hold the camera in your hand; although, this is okay ONLY if you want to create some blurred fancy or avant garde type shots or something. So, it helps if you have a wired or wireless shutter release accessory attached to the camera to fire off the camera shutter and prevent absolute camera movement.

Anyway, the following pics are my first crack at shooting fireworks last night (Friday) and I was in a nervous mode at first and then in an excited pumped up zone while shooting. The instant feedback you get in seeing the pictures with digital camera technology cannot be understated!! You see the results of your work and can make adjustments, if necessary.

The only crazy thing in my head before the shoot was worrying about some of these stupid ass police officers breaking balls about shooting pictures with a tripod. I actually have some documentation I carry in all my different camera bags that state the rights of photographers with tripods. If you're a photo enthusiast or greater check out: The Photographer's Rights - You can download the PDF and print it out.

And the other thing I was mildly worried about was holding the trigger for the camera shutter which has an antenna sticking out. In these post-911 days in New York City you never know with police officers and them thinking you gonna blow shit up - like there's shit to blow up in da hood of south Brooklyn??? And you know it hasn't been safe for a Black man in Amerikkka as it is for 400+ years!!

Moving along, for you photography buffs out there, I used a Nikon D200 DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera with a 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens (this lens is discontinued by Nikon by the way, and it's the primary lens I use and LOVE A LOT!). A fast lens (f/2.8) is not important in this type of shooting because generally you would be shooting at an aperture of f/8 or f11 (better depth of field) and a speed of ISO 100. The fireworks are so bright that you wouldn't need a fast lens shooting wide open (largest aperture) or having to shoot at a higher ISO speed which can introduce grain.

So the CACTUS Wireless Shutter Release performed perfectly under its first job. Man, I LOVE this little guy! LOL! I think I did pretty DAMN well for my first time!! I read an Internet article called How to Photograph Fireworks Displays and it was really and truly instrumental and teaching me the trade (no pun intended, LOL!) before I even got out there.

And for you guys keeping track of things from the Catcus blog entry I wrote, I finally went to my local Radio Shack this past Thursday and bought some black velcro (they call it hook-and-loop fasteners - why this is I have no idea. It's a dumb name!) for $3.49. You get a 4-piece strip (sounds like a KFC order ) with both male and female sides. Now the velcro matches/camouflages perfectly with the black color body of my camera instead of the white velcro I previously used.

So... have FUN looking at the pretty pictures below. I know I had the ultimate FUN shooting them. Be qool, y'all!

ROD