The Fête des Lumières (Festival of Lights) takes place during the first weekend of every December in Lyon, France, and fireworks are an integral part of this four-day event. From the very comfortable and cozy confines of my terrace in downtown Lyon, I had a wonderful view of the fireworks exploding over Old Lyon. With my camera and 24–85mm lens mounted on a tripod, my aperture set to f/11, and my ISO at 200, I determined a shutter speed of 2 seconds. I watched and listened to the rockets shooting into the night sky, determining the approximate time it took each one to reach its zenith and explode into a sparkling array of light. As each rocket hurtled upward, I would time my exposure to begin just before the big blast, tripping the shutter with my cable release. During the 2-second exposure, my camera recorded the motion of that bright and colorful burst.

24–85mm lens, f/11 for 2 seconds

Atop the headquarters of the telephone company in Doha, Qatar, eight students and I waited with great anticipation for the fireworks show in celebration of Qatar’s National Day. With our cameras mounted on tripods and our apertures set to f/8 for 4 seconds with an ISO of 200, we were ready. Before long, we were “oohing” and “aahing” at the perfect exposures displayed on our camera screens.

24–85mm lens, f/8 for 4 seconds