There are a lot of great posts out there that discuss the tips and tricks of shooting fireworks shows, especially around July 4.  Most discuss aperture, shutter and ISO settings (I prefer F/11, 4 seconds, ISO 250).  These are all great, but one point can be easily overlooked, as I discovered to my dismay this past Independence Day:  wind direction.

In an effort to enjoy the day personally (in contrast to obsessing over the perfect shot all day), I chose my shooting location based on convenience: both to its proximity to the party I attended earlier in the evening, and to my desire to not fight traffic and the throngs of people who would be gathered near the launch site itself.  I “compensated” for this convenience by making sure that my camera settings were dialed in before arriving, and bringing lenses of various size and focal lengths.  There was just one problem…

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Those of us who [work in tech support / fix our own computers / use computers with some proficiency / own a computer / wear glasses] have a reputation amongst the technically unsavvy in our [families / workplaces / schools / favorite watering holes] of knowing everything that can possibly be done with a [computer / i-Thingy / cocktail blender].  But the truth is that there are so many programs, operating systems, and interfaces out there that no one person can possibly know them all.  And yet we are called upon to “fix this stupid thing” whenever a group of two or three gather anywhere, anytime, for any reason.  And let’s face it my geeky friends, as annoying as it can be sometimes, we do relish in the myth of our own technological omnipotence, don’t we?

Well, the good folks over at XKCD have let the cat out of the bag, exposing the secret of our tech support prowess in wonderful flowchart form.  And we love them for it, because it’s XKCD and to say anything less than praise for them would seriously hurt our geek cred. 

So, here it is:  XKCD #627 – Tech Support Cheat Sheet

Strobist has an excellent post with tips for taking pictures of Christmas Lights.  ‘Tis the season, and I’ll be putting these tips into practice:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/12/how-to-photograph-christmas-lights.html