Little Bay Park Wide Angle Wednesday

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/400sec, 3200ISO, 24mm

Summer evening usually involve a couple trips to watch the sunset from Little Bay Park, a park near the Throgs Neck Bridge in Bayside, Queens. There had been construction on the parking lot near this rock jetty, so now that it is back open, there are a lot of people out on the rocks at night. Some people are out there fishing, some practicing their photography, others on dates, or simple selfie taking time.

Wide Angle Wednesday

I recently discussed how I was able to upgrade to a full frame body. I am still using the Tokina wide angle lens, but it is really designed for the crop bodies. Even though it can mount to the camera, at the widest setting, 11mm, it does not fill the sensor. I can still use this lens, but it is more of a prime lens now, as 16mm is the only focal length that fills the full frame sensor. 

Circle of Confusion
Canon 5D Mark III, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/25sec, 160ISO, 11mm

MCU Sunset

One of the things we like to do when at Coney Island is attend the Cyclones games, a minor league baseball team, at MCU Park. The are a farm team for the Mets, so even better!

The tickets are reasonably priced, usually the weather is nice, and some nights, they have fireworks after the game. 

During the game on July 3rd, there were enough clouds in the sky to create a stunning sunset. Though the sun was setting behind my left shoulder from this shot, it bathed the sky in a beautiful glow.

Cyclones Sunset at MCU Park
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/200sec, 3200ISO, 24mm

Wide Angle Wednesday

Disappearing Mural
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/640sec, 320ISO, 24mm

This past Sunday, my little family took an outing to Coney Island. Having seen "Finding Dory" the day before, we had to visit the aquarium and take advantage of our Wildlife Conservation Society membership. 

Junk food was consumed, a little time frolicking in the sand for the 4 year old, a beer or two for the adults, and a minor league baseball game were some of the highlights. 

I was sad to see the above mural had been painted over. I had always enjoyed it on past trips to the boardwalk. It is located between the boardwalk and the Cyclone roller coaster, right next to the Aquarium. 

Here are a few photos of the same mural on past events:

Fireworks Friday!!

Okay, maybe I'm stretching for a theme here, especially for someone that doesn't stick to regularly scheduled posts. But it is the Friday before the Fourth of July, and fireworks are on my mind, so Firework Friday!

This past Wednesday, one of the New York City parks, Fort Totten (mentioned here and here in previous posts), had a fireworks display. Last year, the fireworks were a smaller affair, launched from the soccer field, which is the old parade grounds for the Fort. This year, it increased in scope. The fireworks were launched from a barge in Little Neck Bay, the area of water between Bayside area of Queens, and Little Neck/Great Neck.

The barge leaves the port as dusk fallsCanon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/160sec, 1600ISO, 80mm

The above shot was about when we arrived. We didn't know where in the bay the barge would be stationed. We met up with my daughter's friend from preschool (last year) and her family. My daughter had not enjoyed fireworks in the past. Last year, she complained and covered her ears the entire time. When we took our family trip to Walt Disney World last August, she was not happy with each of the fireworks shows at the parks. So this year, we thought we wouldn't be able to go, but she had a playdate on Monday with her friend, heard she was going, and decided she wanted to go. We brought some hearing protection, and she seemed fine this year, mostly because was with her friend.

First Boom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 24mm

Arriving closer to the fireworks start time meant ideal spots where gone. I had brought my tripod and camera though, so I was going to try shooting no matter, it's digital! The first couple looked like we had a great spot!

Flower Boom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 4sec, 100ISO, 70mm

I'm not sure if the barge was moving, but it seemed to move behind the large tree on the left. I was still able to get some shots of the larger ones above the tree, but lost some trails.

More boom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO, 50mm

Exposure times were kept to a couple of seconds, left the ISO long and narrowed the aperture to ensure I would be able to get the streaks of the fireworks.

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 55mm

Basically, the fireworks were lightpainting the sensor. Because the fireworks ignite at different times, so sometimes the clouds will appear in two different positions with different color. That is due to the shutter being open for ~3secs, so one shell explodes in red, illuminates the smoke in red, then a half second later, the green ignites and illuminates the smoke that had moved with the wind.

Trippy Clouds
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 55mm

One has to get a sense of timing for fireworks as well. We were close enough where I could hear the faint sound of the elevation charge igniting, so I would try to open the shutter a split second later to get the trail of the shell flying upwards (not all shells have the blinking tail), and most of the explosion in the air. A lot of bad shots in the beginning until I got my timing right.

Glittery!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO, 105mm

Double Feature
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/10, 8sec, 100ISO, 55mm

I love fireworks by the way. 

Boom Boom Zoom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO

I also wanted to try a technique I had seen other photographers publish, which is when doing a long exposure, near the end of the shutter being open, you move the zoom from one end to the other. I started zoomed in, and then yanked it out towards the widest setting. The above photo is my attempt at that, the only one that didn't look like garbage.

Red White and Blue
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 55mm

That darn tree!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO, 24mm

Stars!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 4sec, 100ISO, 50mm

I hope everyone has the opportunity to see some fireworks this weekend, and that y'all have a happy but safe three day weekend!