Finding myself on vacation in Longueira, 10 km south of Milfontes, I managed to convince my wife to enter 2020 on the beach, while admiring the fireworks display planned for midnight. This was a challenge, because it meant leaving the warm house and venturing into a cold night. In the end, it payed off with a nice show over the river Mira estuary.
I wanted to make some photos, of course, so I packed my camera and lens (Fujifilm XH-1 and 16-55 f/2.8 lens), plus the tripod. I had a fully charged battery in the camera, and another one in my pocket, just in case. I was going to use longer than usual exposure times, between 2 seconds and 20 seconds, experimenting a bit. Photographing fireworks is always a trial and error exercise; registering one or more bursts can result in interesting results.
We chose to go to the south side of the river, opposite the fireworks launching area. This side of the river would be less crowded, and we would be able to see some good reflections on the water. After arriving, I set up the gear on the tripod, and did a few test shots; the view towards Milfontes is actually quite nice from this river bank: the old castle and houses were illuminated, with the light reflected on the water.
At midnight, on time, the fireworks started, and lasted for 10 minutes. That kept me busy changing exposure times and focal lengths, trying to register different bursts and colours. I managed to do so, and was happy with the results I got.
I wish everybody a Happy 2020.