Have a Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy New Year from us here at Urban Grafix Designs & JayRodPhotos.com. May all the best you hope for work out well for you from here on out!

P.S. don’t tell Kelby that I’m using his 2010 balloons…LOL

At 3:35am this morning I lost my best pal due to kidney failure!
Lynx was a purebred Seal Lynx Point Siamese Cat who has gave me more then you can ever expect in a cats life. Lynx was a show cat that brought home numerous prizes such as “best in show” and “best in breed.

Asides all the training and prized Lynx was the welcoming committee when you came to my home. When you knock on the door he would be the first one there to say “hey, wassup… welcome, come right in”!

He was a continuous talker but a very good listener also. I already miss his voice – his meow’s. I am sure he’s doing better right now… no more suffering!

Lynx was my sunshine!

I miss you and I love you Lynx!
I refuse to say goodbye… so I’m going to say see ya later my friend!
Hugs and Kisses <3

What you’ll need:

Camera with manual settings I prefer a digital SLR for complete control, but you can make this work with compact cameras with either a fireworks setting or manual override

Sturdy tripod I know many people say this, but if you want clear straight lines, a dependable, adjustable but sturdy tripod. You don’t want this slipping and shaking during your exposure

Remote Cable Release I prefer one with a lock and one at least 30 inches in length. You’ll use this to trip the shutter and hold it open for longer bursts

5×7 inch black non-reflective card To cover the lens and adjust your exposures

Flash Light To help you review your settings or possibley paint your foreground with light.

Water, Insect repellant and comfortable shoes You have to take care of yourself, right?

It helps if you can scout the location prior to the event. Preferable getting an obstructed view and a place to place your blanket and cooler and relax. I try to find a place that could offer some interesting reflections or silhouettes.

Set your camera on the tripod and make sure the legs are secure from slipping. Connect the cable release and test to make sure it’s working and get out your black card. Set your camera to manual setting and put your shutter speed at B (bulb). You will dictate the shutter speed using your cable release and black card.

Now decide if you want the skies to be black or if you want some detail or colour in the background. Or if you have a building in your foreground you may want to include some of that detail in your exposure. I prefer black skies and will use the following as starting points for exposure settings for sensor sensitivity/ISO and your aperature.:

ISO/Sensitivity: 100, Aperature f/4

ISO/Sensitivity: 200, Aperature f/5.6

ISO/Sensitivity: 400, Aperature f/8

ISO/Sensitivity: 800, Aperature f/11

ISO/Sensitivity: 1600, Aperature f/16

Keep in mind that the fireworks are extremely bright and will clip out very easily. The lower your ISO the darker the skies and the limited amount of detail you’ll have.

Now you’re ready to shoot.

When it’s time for the fireworks, place the black card in front of your lens, trip the shutter (lock it if you can) wait for the trailer to shoot up and once it disappears, lift the card away from the lens and capture the burst.

Place the card back in front of the lens. If you want to capture multiple bursts repeat this process. If you’re satisfied with one burst, release the shutter, review the exposure (assuming you’re shooting digital) and adjust the f/stop or ISO to suit your camera, lens and environment.

Now this seems like a lot of detail for getting the shots, why not just trip the shutter and let it go? By all means, do it, have fun with it and see what you get. Shooting fireworks is a lot about adjustments and experimenting, but if you can predict what it’s going to look like and being able to adjust will help you increase the number of amazing fireworks photos.

So what kind of lens do I use? Most of the time, I’m shooting with an 18-55 lens. Moderate wide-angle to normal. But shooting with a telephoto zoom can help you create some nice abstract light paintings.

Things to consider for the quality of your image

With higher ISO you will increase the grain/noise of your image plus it will detect a lot of the bomb smoke. While it can provide some great effects, you may want to experiment and adjust

To capture the trails/bursts, you’ll have exposure times for a single burst around 4-8 seconds, This can create some great light trails from other sources but may also create hotspots around street lights. Just be aware.

Reflections of water are generally between 1/2 and a full stop below your normal bursts but are amazing if you can get them just right.

If you’re shooting the grand finale you will see an enormous amount of bursts in a single area and you may experience some blown out areas in your image.

Experiment and have fun. I’d love to see what you shoot for fireworks this season.

Cheers!

~fotodog

A little Raving and Ranting here on B4P today. Just let it all out, lets see how good it can make us feel

Its also means “DO NOT DISTURB”!!!!

Give your employees time to get better, to catch up to their health cause lord knows how much abuse they go through the rest of the year before their vacations and sick days!

Sympathizing in these matters are great solutions towards a well rested employee. I can guarantee to you if your employees don’t fail you the entire year, giving them this break to catch-up to themselves will be greatly appreciated and paid back towards the company 3 times fold.

so remember, when he or she calls in sick…let them rest! They deserve it!

NEW YORK – Illusionist/Daredevil David Blaine has safely finished his latest stunt: hanging upside-down without a net high over Central Park for 60 hours.

The endurance artist began dangling from a wire over a park skating rink on Monday. He kept smiling while describing the "enormous push of blood" that made it feel as though his head was "about to burst."

He celebrated the completion of the wire act Wednesday night by diving from a platform 44 feet to the ground while attached to a harness… Then he disappeared into thin air as the crowd watched him float away past the crane that was holding him up via his harness.

A two-hour ABC television special called "David Blaine: Dive of Death" also showed footage of him catching a .22-calibre bullet fired from a rifle into a metal cup in his mouth. This stunt (or illusion as David said) has been attempted by very few people, and most of them didn’t get to live to tell about it.

People cheered and boo’d David once he jumped off the perch and showed nothing spectacular to the non-believers in the crowd. But the hardcore David Blaine fans cheered on ad the awesome illusionist/daredevil floated away into thin air.

David Blaine – "Dive of Death"