BCS National Championship Game!

The Gators are champions again! Oh how sweet it is. I was lucky enough to have been able to cover the 2008 BCS Championship Game in South Florida betwen the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners. I was working for WUFT-TV Sports, so I wasn't there as a still photographer. Nonetheless, I toted my camera with my smallest lens, the 50mm f./1.8. I was able to snap a few. By the way, in case you live in a bubble, the Gators won 24 to 14.

The WUFT crew... Tim Tebow in the postgame press conference...

Major Wright's gear amidst the victory confetti...

Louis Murphy does a dance...

Lousi Murphy and Tim Tebow before the game...

Tim Tebow to Percy Harvin just before kickoff...

The trophy in all its gloriousness...

Before entering our police escorted media bus...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, my friends. Here are some pictures I took from the Acosta Bridge over the St. Johns River in Downtown Jacksonville. Photographing fireworks is difficult at first, but once you learn, things get a lot easier. First, I set my ISO to 100. The lowest possible ISO reduces noise. I can only have this low sensitivity because I use a tripod. No tripod= no good photos in this case. Next, I set my focus to manual and manually focused on the buildings in the background. I was usually zoomed out to 28mm. I used a small aperture, usually f./ 8 to f./ 11, so there weren't many depth of field issues. I used a shutter speed of 1/10 second to 10 seconds. This allowed the fireworks to "do their thing" as my camera's sensor recorded it. If I could do it again, I'd back further up. I wish I had a wider angle lens, like an 18mm or wider.

The important things to remember are a tripod and a longer shutter speed. You don't need a DSLR to shoot fireworks effectively. You can use a simple point and shoot if it has manual settings or a fireworks setting. If you don't have a tripod, try to find a stable ledge or table.