Once again Fourth of July is at our American doorstep, complete with lots of fireworks displays. If you want to capture your own fiery composition, here are a few tips. (Keep in mind that this month's photo assignment is "Fire,")

First: turn off your flash. Yes, you're going to be shooting in a dark environment, and if your camera is set to auto flash, it's going to fire. This is the last thing you want, so turn it off.

Next, break out the tripod. You're going to be using long exposures. Use a cable or remote release if you have one. If not, just gently press the shutter button with your finger.

Resist the urge to increase your ISO setting. Keep it at 100 to help reduce image noise. You might also want to switch to manual exposure. Auto exposure will overexpose your dark skies turning them to mushy gray. Start with a manual setting of 2 seconds at F-5.6 or F-8, and see what you get. Adjust accordingly from there.

Finally, use a wide angle lens so you can capture as much of the sky as possible. If you know the display is going to peak in a certain area, you can zoom in a bit. Remember, since you're shooting at the highest resolution possible, you can always crop your image later. You will also find it helpful to use manual focus mode if your camera has it.

Some compacts have a "Fireworks" scene mode. If you're toting a point and shoot, check you scene mode menu. You might be pleasantly surprised. The Fireworks scene mode usually works quite well.

Have a great time, be safe, and get some great shots.

About the Photo
Brian C Davenport went to Windsor,Canada to shoot the Freedom Festival fireworks over the Detroit skyline last year. Here's how he got the shot.

"It was a very long day but the last 30 min was outstanding," said Brian. "Getting there early in the day gave us a front row seat, right on the shoreline to set up our tripods. I shot about 200 images during the day, and the fireworks shots came out really nice. It was a little tricky as this was a show where there were very few single bursts so there was alot of light in the air most of the time. I settled on 18mm, ISO 100, f8 and 3-5 sec exposure. These settings gave some definition to the bursts without too much "blow-out" of the highlights."

Great shot Brian! Thanks for sending it in.

Technorati Tags: Derrick Story, digital photography, Photo Assignment, Technology, The Digital Story

Finally, after days of interrupted service, the Digital Story podcast feed is working again in iTunes Music Store. This was not an iTunes problem, but something that happened on our side of the fence. We tried to modernize our feeds and ended up breaking them all together in the process.

If you subscribe to The Digital Story in iTunes, all you have to do now is go to the Podcasts section in iTunes and hit the Refresh button. Our feed should now work and you will get the latest episode, Self Assignment.

If you have a problem getting the show in iTunes, please post a comment here so we can troubleshoot the situation. As you can imagine, I feel terrible about this inconvenience. I'm hoping we have everything now wired up correctly.

Technorati Tags: podcast, Technology, The Digital Story

Other World Computing has recently announced their Mercury On-the-Go 320 GB FireWire portable hard drive. The specs are perfect for photographers on the go.

In a compact package that fits in your back pocket, you get lots of capacity, 7200 RPMs (fast for a portable), bus powered (no electrical adapter required), and three interfaces (FireWire 800.400 and USB 2.0). The going price is $280 US.

One of the big topics this week in my Photoshop Lightroom workshop in Santa Fe has been portable storage. Having a 320 GB drive (or two) seems like a good option for Raw shooters who work in the field.

Technorati Tags: Derrick Story, digital photography, Santa Fe Workshops, Technology, The Digital Story

For our morning shoot today, I took the class to the Jackalope Mercado in Santa Fe. This is a terrific place to visit if you're ever in the area. While you take pictures of everything from cattle skulls to pottery, your friends and family can shop for authentic Southwest souvenirs at affordable prices. You can easily spend two hours browsing all of the wares and artwork.

After our morning shoot and some light lunch, we spent the afternoon working with the pictures in Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw. I think it's more motivating, even in a lab setting, to have fresh new imagery to work with while you're learning software.

Tomorrow, we'll start making prints on HP B9180s. Each class member has their own workstation and printer. This is where it really gets fun.

Photo by Derrick Story. Canon 5D, 24-105mm f-4 zoom set to 105mm, Aperture Priority mode set to f-8, ISO 200.

Technorati Tags: Derrick Story, digital photography, Santa Fe Workshops, Technology, The Digital Story

I took our class from Santa Fe Workshops to the Tent Rocks National Monument yesterday morning to capture some good content for our work in Photoshop and Lightroom. It's a terrific location with a variety of rock formations including a slot canyon.

For this shot, I mounted the Canon 5D with the 24-105mm L lens on a tripod, and shot in Aperture Priority mode so I could stop down to f-11. I wanted to keep the ISO at 100, so I needed the tripod for the long 1/2 second exposure.

In a few minutes, I'll pack up to go to a local marketplace so we can get some people shots and local color...

Technorati Tags: Derrick Story, digital photography, Santa Fe Workshops, Technology, The Digital Story

I saw this bottle cap tripod mount today while I was browsing in the Santa Fe Workshops Store. Basically you can convert most filled bottles into a tripod for your compact camera. Half fun. Half useful. Can usually find them for around $10. Thought you might get a kick out it.

Also, here's a fun video on how to make one yourself. The author says it only takes 5 minutes. But of course that's once you have all the parts together. Still, seems like a kick.

• 25 handy and informative tables for quick reference.
• Metadata listings for every photo in the book
• Dedicated chapter on making printing easy.
• Photo management software guide.
• Many, many inside tips gleaned from years of experience.
• Comprehensive (214 pages), yet fits easily in camera bag.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, DIY, Technology, The Digital Story

This is great news for photographers. Firefox 3 includes color management. It's not turned on by default, but you can read how to do it on Ron Galbraith's web site. Once set up however, your calibrated images should look great on your browsing labtop or any other computer that uses this setup.

I would recommend that pro shooters show their clients how to do this, and if necessary, set it up for them in person. This should improve online photo work for all parties involved.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Technology, The Digital Story, color management, Firefox

Seems like forever since I've been to New Mexico. But I'm going next week to teach my Photoshop class. I know many of you have visited the area, and I'm hoping you might share some recommendations for taking pictures. So what do you think? What should I not miss in the Santa Fe area?

Photo of Blue Doors by Derrick Story.

Events! See the TDS Event Calendar for photography workshops, speaking engagements, and trade show appearances.

Technorati Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Derrick Story, digital photography, Technology, The Digital Story

It's fairly easy to calculate how much your paper costs, but did you ever wonder what you were spending on ink? TDS sponsor Red River Paper has just published a report calculating ink usage for the Epson R2400 and the R1900 printers.

Based on their findings, it costs about 90 cents for full ink coverage on a glossy 8x10 print, and about $2.80 for a glossy 13x19. The entire report is interesting. If you're printing with either of these units, you might want to take a look.

For more information, visit Cost of Inkjet Printing.

Now Available! The Digital Photography Companion. The official guide for The Digital Story Virtual Camera Club.

• 25 handy and informative tables for quick reference.
• Metadata listings for every photo in the book
• Dedicated chapter on making printing easy.
• Photo management software guide.
• Many, many inside tips gleaned from years of experience.
• Comprehensive (214 pages), yet fits easily in camera bag.

Technorati Tags: Derrick Story, digital photography, Printer, Technology, The Digital Story

Interesting piece on mediabistro.com about what buyers want (and don't want) when searching for stock photography. They gleaned these tips from PhotoShelter's School of Stock. Here's a nice snippet from the story:

"Survey respondents indicated the worst categories in stock photography, in terms of quality and breadth of available imagery, were healthcare (88%), multicultural and diversity lifestyle (86%), senior citizens lifestyle (86%), and consumer technology and products (84%). And don't even get them started on the dearth of photos of multi-ethnic senior citizens in hospital settings playing video games."

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Technology, The Digital Story, Stock Photography