Fireworks on New Year's Eve

Went to see the New Year's Eve fireworks behind the Brampton City Hall yesterday evening... A nice change from the cold spell of last week... although the melting of the snow meant that the ground was muddy and slippery... almost fell in, gear and all...

I had little clue about how to shoot fireworks (the last time I shot such a display was a complete fluke, thanks to the fireworks scene mode in my little Panasonic FX150)... so I followed the instructions in How to Photograph Fireworks Displays...

William Gage Park, Brampton, ON

We went to Gage Park from where I hunted around for a spot which had a good view of where the fireworks display would be taking place...

Set up my tripod, with my Sony A100 and the 18-70mm kit lens. I figured that wide angle shots would give me much more flexibility during post editing compared to the tightly zoomed-in pictures... Set the aperture to f/13, ISO 200, and set the shutter speed at the BULB setting. The BULB setting allowed me to keep the shutter open as long as the shutter button is held down (a shutter release cable is advised here, in order to minimize camera shake). Took a few trial shots... and then waited for the fireworks to start... Since it was continuously drizzling, had to cover the camera...

Brampton City Hall, just before the fireworks started...

... the opening salvos...

... streams of colors...

... a burst of color behind the city hall...

... a crop of the beautiful light streams...

Overall, a great experience...

Took a few "bokeh" shots of lights on the way back...

Lights and Bokeh - Shot with the Sony 50mm 1.8

More photos of the fireworks display here.

Went to Toronto again today... Very overcast and foggy... will try to see what shots I can salvage from today's long drive...

Had lunch at Popeye's today... it was just like KFC's Mighty Zinger back home... yummm!

That's all for the first day of the year...