Copper Harbor 4th of July Fireworks
This year’s fireworks display at Copper Harbor was awesome. I mean, normally they are great. The fireworks have a great backdrop (Lake Superior), after all. But this year, they had so many fireworks. At one point, everyone thought the display was over and yells of approval echoed across the town. A few seconds later – there were more fireworks.
I grew up in a family that often was involved in fireworks displays. I know they are not cheap. It amazes me that Copper Harbor can raise so much money for this yearly display. It shows a lot about the people and the visitors.
We set up our viewing area near the water. The abundance of stones near the shore keeps our son occupied during the wait for dusk. In the meantime, I experimented with our camera to try to get the settings right to be able to capture the display.
Even after the sun sets, it takes a long time for the darkness to take over. The excitement builds as the first flare (I’m guessing it’s a flare) is lit on the island where they are shooting the fireworks from. Then another flare lights up, then another. In all, there were 15 flares lit this year’s show (at least that’s what I was able to count). That is the most I have ever counted…I knew right then and there it was going to be an awesome display.
And it was! Here are a few of the better pictures. Click on any of them for a larger view.
I can’t wait for next year!
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A town near where I grew up also puts on an amazing fireworks display every year. A lot of the fireworks are “sponsored” by a person, family, or group — often in memory of someone else. That accounts for a lot of the really spectacular fireworks. I wonder if Copper Harbor does the same?
Good job with the camera too! General recommendations are to put it in full manual mode with a moderately small aperture (maybe f/8) and a pretty fast shutter speed (probably 1/200 at least). Otherwise the camera will usually try to overexpose, because it thinks that the scene is too dark.
Great pics!!! Fireworks are notoriously difficult to shoot. Something like 10 crap to 1 keeper.
dcclark – I have a lot to learn yet about f’s and shutter speeds LOL. One of these days I will get my nose in the manual.
Jay -thanks! I should probably look at the ratio I have. It may be close to the one you mentioned. I think a lot of it has to do with timing.
I’ve got a shot of the pyrotechnicians setting up for the Mackinac Island fireworks on one of the Arnold line boats. They were at the old state ferry dock when we were. It was pretty cool watching them loading the shells.