As we approach another Independence Day and the opportunity for fireworks, I decided to take a look back through some of my fireworks shots from last year. This shot is from the fireworks display on July 4th 2009 at Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom in Dorneyville, PA.

From the fireworks display on July 4th 2009 at Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom in Dorneyville, PA.

I setup camp on the side of the road in front of the Comfort Inn and Suites Hotel which gave me a pretty good angle on the fireworks but also gave me a steady stream on insanely heavy traffic crossing in front of me, I’m pretty sure the headlights were throwing some of the metering off during the course of some of my shots.

I was a little disappointed in the finale though because of the density of the explosions, most of them came out just white flashes of light instead of nice, even distributed showers of sparks. The City of Allentown fireworks display which was also visible in the night sky off to the north was a lot better in my opinion.

From the fireworks display on Friday 5-15-2009 at the annual Fleetwood Days that are held in the park where I regularly photograph ducks and other wildlife.

No planets or solar systems were formed or harmed in the making of these photographs.

These were the fireworks on Friday 5-15-2009 at the annual Fleetwood Days that are held in the park where I regularly photograph ducks and other wildlife. I think they probably scared the poor ducks to death last night. I’ll have to check on them today.

This was my first attempt at shooting fireworks. Next time I really need to bring my 10-20mm and my 24-70mm lenses. The 70-200mm was just too much for some of the closer bursts but like anything else, it was a learning experience.