As mentioned above, it is June 30th, which means all of those things I mentioned before, but perhaps more relevant to this blog post it means that it is Canada Day soon. Since pretty much all my traffic comes from Canada, so I'm going to assume you know what that is. And since Canada Day = Fireworks I thought I'd enlighten you on the awesomeness of fireworks. Also while I'm on the topic of moving lights at night, I'll mention Long Exposure Photographs which are also sweet. Remember, becoming awesome is not a spectator sport, so get out there and start being awesome. Now's a great opportunity because finding fireworks to see on Canada Day should be easy, and lots of people have cameras, so just go take a picture of something. All right, let's do this. Lerrrooooyyy Jennkiiiinnns!
Fireworks
Level of Awesomeness: Explosive
What Is It: As you know, there is nothing I love more than the 4th of July, or as it is known in Canada the 1st of July. And that is because - other than the outrageous displays of patriotism - of the fireworks. They are so bright and vivid and scare small children and dogs (in much the same way as thunderstorms do). Fireworks come in two types: safe and horribly dangerous. Safe fireworks look like this and can be shaped like hearts and smiley faces.
These are the types of fireworks that you want to show your kids because they have a much greater chance of not being injured severely than with the horribly dangerous type of fireworks. This second type can be illustrated both through anecdote and video. Once upon a time, at my birthday some time in the past - probably when I was like ten - we decided it would be a good idea to have fireworks at my party. But when the day came it was super windy and completely unsafe for setting off fireworks near a residential area. Needless to say I was distraught, and it was my birthday, so in order to not ruin a young child's birthday the decision was made to light the fireworks anyway. Soon we were at the beach setting off fireworks, and it was windy and a firework blew over while lit and shot like 8 bursts at a cottage about 20 feet away. The cottage did not burn down and all the small children at the party were unhurt, but a lesson was learned: try not to shoot fireworks at people or houses. Now here's a video of a different type of horribly dangerous firework.
Note: Do not set off fireworks with a blast radius greater than the distance to the ground.
Why Is It Awesome: Because fireworks are pretty when not used in dangerous ways that could lead to disfiguration and severe trauma. They also bring people together to marvel at the spectacle that is the fireworks display. Happy Canada Day Everyone!
Long Exposure Photographs
Level of Awesomeness: coooooooooooooooooooool
What Is It: When you take a picture the shutter on your camera opens and closes to capture light. If you leave the shutter open longer, you can capture more light. This is good at night for example because there is not very much light available or to give the impression of movement through the use of blur. When you combine long exposures with moving things such as waterfalls it creates a cool smoothing effect on the water.
My personal favourite use of long exposures is taking pictures of moving lights at night. For example, cars
stars,
airplanes,
amusement parks,
and sparklers.
Why Is It Awesome: Look at them. They're awesome.
