The photos of the hummingbirds were shot from indoors through a large bay window. The camera was on a tripod. I used a remote control so I wouldn't have to get too close to the window. The feeder was 15-20 feet away from the camera. I had to increase the contrast on the images, because shooting through glass causes a considerable drop-off in contrast.

The dragonfly is a Blue Dasher, also known as a Blue Pirate. It landed a few feet from me as I was sitting on the back steps. I had the camera with me to try for some shots of dragonflies that were feeding on bugs that live in the grass. There have been several dozen dragonflies swarming in the yard every morning and evening for a couple of weeks now. This is the only shot I've taken so far.

July 4th Fireworks at the Olive Branch, MS City Park

One of the most popular pages on my site before I redesigned it was a fireworks tutorial. I was never completely happy with that tutorial, despite it's popularity and the comments I received from readers thanking me for the information, so I decided to leave it off the site until I got a chance to redo it. Now that I have some new photos to use as samples I plan on putting it back up. Having the experience of taking these photographs fresh in my mind will also help me with the rewrite. The tutorial should be coming soon.

In the meantime, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Click on the smaller images for the full image.

More photos after the break.

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One of the best photo opportunities of the year falls on the 4th of July. While the fireworks are always a draw for photography buffs, there are other great photographs waiting to happen, as well.

(Note: Scroll down for the photos. Click on a small image to view the full-sized photo.)

Any time you have crowds of people there will be small scenes that beg to be photographed. Each one tells a small story. That's the kind of photographic opportunity I was hoping for when I went to the celebration at the city park in my small town.

Olive Branch, Mississippi is a very pleasant small town southwest of Memphis. It is only a couple of miles outside of the Memphis city limits and has been growing quite fast for the last fifteen years. The Independence Day celebration was on a Friday, which ensured a large turnout. I estimated the crowd at 2,000-3,000, but it could have been much larger.

There was a very mixed crowd. Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Orientals, Philipinos, and probably more races and ethnic groups that I didn't see. It was a big family event. Lots of kids, teenagers, and adults of all ages. I spoke to one older couple who said they were both in their 90's.

Photos after the break.

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There is a small, off-highway motel near my house. I noticed their sign one day and thought to myself that it would make a good photo subject. I stopped by there one day with my camera to see if they minded if I took some photos. There wasn't anyone around and I didn't want to trespass so the only shots I took were sitting in the driveway on the way out of their gravel covered parking lot. I put the driver's window down and took a series of photos from about 30-40 feet away. Thank goodness for good zoom lenses. The shots I took confirmed my initial belief that the sign would make a good photo subject.

I had timed it so the afternoon light would be behind the trees. This eliminated any glare and gave me good color. I bumped up the blue values in my camera menu and added some saturation. I left the contrast and sharpening set to zero. I set the white balance to cloudy. The shots were all taken at ISO 50, my favorite setting.

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The conclusion in the review of the Digital Concepts .5x wide angle adapter lens was that the lens was probably worth keeping. This review of the 2x telephoto adapter lens from the same company doesn't reach the same conclusion. This is a terrible lens that isn't worth using for anything more than a paperweight.

I was really hoping that I could figure out a way to get a decent photo with this lens, but in the end had to admit that it just isn't going to happen. Short version: Don't waste your money on this lens.

The few shots I took the day the lens arrived turned out so bad that I decided to try again the next day. Before taking a new series of shots, I read the manual and noticed a setting in the camera menu for use with an adapter lens. I made sure to use this setting in all of the new shots. It didn't seem to help at all.

The fence and the climbing vine in some shots were about 100 feet away (rough guess). The shots of the moon were taken the night before around midnight. The moon shots are the only ones that have been modified other than resizing. I used auto levels in Photoshop to brighten them up a bit. I could have gotten the same effect by using a slower shutter speed. All of the photos were taken with a tripod and using the 2-second shutter delay to reduce camera shake.

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