Your Canon Photos No. 9: 2nd to 8th July 2023

Subject: Happy Fourth of July

For us in the US, it's a time for celebration. I began this early by going to a parade.

Photo No. 1 - I was late for the parade, so I ran down the street towards it.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 400
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 20 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 2 - I could see these horses.

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 400
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 29 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 3 - Then this little MG zoomed by; they were throwing candy.

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 18 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 4 - The boys were wanting to get some.

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 19 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 5 - So then I walked and ran a little to catch up to the horses, by going another route...cutting through the neighborhood another way.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 29 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 6 - The horses were very much disciplined.

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 28 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 7 - Another....

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 640
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 31 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 8 - And one more.... Do you remember seeing the little pony in photo no. 2? Well here it is again.

Model - Canon EOS M50m2
ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 36 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 9 - And here's the same red MG.

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 500
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 41 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 10 - Of course what followed the horses, were some pooper scoopers. 😀

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 40 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 11 - And one more time....

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 400
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 38 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 12 - The rest of the parade followed, starting with these girls that would do all sorts of gymnastics. I didn't see any of them flip up in the air this time, like last year.

ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 55 mm
Lens Model - EF-M55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 13 - Again....

ExposureTime - 1/1250 seconds
FNumber - 10
ISOSpeedRatings - 800
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 55 mm
Lens Model - EF-M55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM

Photo No. 14 - And finally one more....

ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 9
ISOSpeedRatings - 320
ExposureBiasValue - 0
FocalLength - 30 mm
Lens Model - EF-M15-45mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM

The last couple of years, we have been going to a town called Santa Claus.

This year, for the first time, they introduced drones.

Gradually, they moved to traditional fireworks.

I took these with my cell phone, using Canon's Camera Connect while sitting in a camp chair. I;m not used to shooting fireworks, and for the majority of the shots, I was using 1/13th of a sec. That was too long, I think.

Steve Thomas.

Steve1.

The pictures look good. Yes, with fireworks we have to experiment a little. I don't know if there's a right or wrong way. I suppose it's just what we might prefer.

Hi Steve, Thank You.

it was the curled wings and the feet just touching the water that made me think Ballet dancer. 😁

Hi Digirame, Thank You.

He was kind of coming into land on the water but hovered there, they are natural acrobats. 😀

Hi Digirame,

Super shots of the parade, you captured the atmosphere, love the kids racing for the candy.

Hi Steve,

Super shots of the fireworks, I think the timing/shutter speed worked well, to short a time makes the fireworks look static and less realistic.

Today's great photos remind me of the 30 years I lived in the Midwest and conducted my orchestras at concerts on the evenings of the Fourth of July. We always ended with Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever and segued into the fireworks.

That doesnt happen in "old Yerp"! SO... something entirely different. Though the roses peaked weeks ago, they are still on sale in the shops (grown in Africa?). And just to prove that I can handle other colors than red, here are some yellow ones. (Cue: *The Yellow Rose of Texas"!)

David

David,

The yellow flowers look great. They are especially good with the dark background.

More picnic shots from the Canon EOS 1200D

I'm not sure what to think about digging out Santa Claus on 4th of July (regardless of the towns name) 😅, but I absolutely like your firework shots, particularly these two! 👍

Merlot2004,

I'm glad to see the photos were restored (the ones posted two days ago). I assume you wanted some feedback based on what we have talked about. These are just my opinions and not necessarily me pointing out things that are good or bad. Everyone has different viewpoints.

In the second picture, if possible, it's better to be able to see the hands. Also there's extra space at the top, so next time you might want to crop that out or take the picture differently. In the third photo the spacing looks just about right, with space above the head and below the feet. But if possible, show all of the feet in the second and third image without cutting them off in the frame. The first photo looks good in terms of composition; but I would have included all of the leg. It's interesting how you got sandy. What caused that?

Keep doing the great things that you are doing. 😀

Merlot2004,

Looking at the photos posted about an hour ago, it looks like you were having fun. In addition to what I previously mentioned, in the second picture, you might want to straighten the image. Now, sometimes I don't do that although, if I want to convey motion or loss of balance (like when on a boat). The last two pictures would look great if it showed you having a splashing play-fight with someone else.

A little edit: Do you know how to straighten an image? You can use software to do that. I use a free copy of IrfanView for my photo adjustments.

I started a tradition a couple of years ago,

On July 4th and again on New Years Eve, we set off a Japanese Lantern and make a wish for the coming year.

Steve Thomas

Cool tradition Steve. I guess the american flag photo is the 4th July one? 😀

Merlot,

Yes. I would have preferred a plain one, but they were all sold out.

Someday, I'd like round up about 50 people and have them set theirs off all at the same time.
I think that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Steve Thomas

With some diffidence I present a final couple of yellow rose photos. The previous one had a greenish color cast on the flowers. I am not sure whether that was due to the light source or reflections from the leaves. So, this time I selected a different color temperature for the LED standard light I used -- the most yellow of the three available settings. I have three monitors on my desk, that I use for displaying three documents while I edit music. Two are Acer and one is Dell. I have tried to match the three but they do have different brightnesses and I do not have the gear needed to calibrate them scientifically. Consequently, I never mess around with color balance in post processing of my raw files.

There are two other problems that I encountered in photographing the roses:

1. Selection of lens focal length (85mm, 35mm or 16mm). They all do macro, but the 85mm makes larger images and doesnt need to be quite so close.

2. Finding a perfect bloom. This was impossible.

My object was to show the different layers of the bloom.

Without further ado, here are two shots from last night. You are welcome to criticize and say whether you prefer one or the other.

David

Both look very good - excellent work! I prefer the first one, because of the lighting/better separation.