After saying I wouldn't be going into Destin until after the Summer tourist season is over (Labor Day weekend), I have a confession; I went tonight. I mentioned the fireworks and that I wanted to photograph them sometime to my wife, she encouraged me to go. So I did, and the trip that takes 25 minutes on a good day, took three times that long.
I did my homework before departing, but couldn't really tell where the show originated, but was told of the best place to watch them was from the inlet shore on the west side of Destin Pass. So away I went.
I found the spot I wanted and set up my camera and took some test exposures and pre-focused the three lenses I had with me (28mm, 35mm and 50mm).
The fireworks started and at the first trail I knew I was in the wrong place. If you look at the photo above, you can see a barge at the far right side of the photo, and that was the fireworks barge for the show. They were launched from right in front of me and were going off almost right above me!!!
The first shots were with the 50mm, but I changed lenses in the middle of the show to the 35mm. I wish that I had changed to the 28mm, but in my hurry, I didn't even look at which lens I was changing to. All exposures were made with a remote cable release which I used to open and close the shutter based upon the amount and flow of fireworks. Aperture settings started out at F8 and went to f11, including f9 and f10.
Here are a few of the exposures.
WM