Fireworks !

ISO: 200

Exposure: 2.2 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 38mm
Flash Used: No
Latitude: 30.155556° N
Longitude: 97.957778° W

ISO: 200
Exposure: 10.0 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 20mm
Flash Used: No
Latitude: 30.155556° N
Longitude: 97.957778° W 

Have always wondered how fireworks were shot. Capturing it seemed a challenge. Did a lot of reading before trying it.

Here are the main things to consider

- Mount camera on my tripod.

- As the duration of the shot is determined by light from firework, set the camera to manual (M) mode.

- Use remote/cable release to open and close shutter. ML-L3 worked fine with Nikon D5000.

- Set a proper Aperture and ISO by taking few shots. Started at Aperture 8.0 and ISO 200 (worked fine for me). Try few shots to finalize them.

- Shoot RAW. Though file sizes are big, it gives lot of room for adjustments later. Both images here were adjusted for brightness later.

Pittsburgh downtown

ISO: 400
Exposure: 1.3 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 18mm
Flash Used: No
Latitude: 40.430830° N
Longitude: 80.010560° W

Mount Washington is a must visit place in Pittsburgh. The view of downtown from the hill is awesome. It was late when I got there that day, still it was great. Though I did not have my tripod, I rested the camera on the railing for the pictures. This is when I realized - never forget your tripod on any trip! Never know when you need it!

Here is the address to Mt. Washington (some find it difficult to find it online)

100 Grandview Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15211

My Gear...

Here is what I shoot with. Unless specified the photos in this blog would default from 


Camera
Nikon D5000 - Smart. Sharp. Simply Brilliant.  :)


Lens

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED

The Lone star

ISO: 200

Exposure: 1/40 sec

Aperture: 5.6

Focal Length: 18mm

Flash Used: No

This was taken at my first photo shoot :). I had been to the Texas State capitol thinking I can take great pictures. Though some pictures looked good on the camera's LCD they were not as great on the computer screen! This was one that turned out to be good. It is the view of the dome, from ground floor, inside the capitol.

Why this ???

It's been months since I bought my DSLR camera. I should be taking some bad pictures (better than ugly; in an attempt to become good), hence this blog :). Constructive criticism/comments on the photos are always welcome (I do not have any photo posts yet :) )!

'A picture is worth a thousand words'. So some ask why not just post pictures on Picasa web albums or Flickr. Well, a picture is still a picture, it still needs some description for readers to understand what was going on then. So I will be adding a brief description along with the photographs.