HDR Photo - Downtown Grand Rapids

I decided to take a bike ride and go downtown Grand Rapids and take some photos last night along Riverside park. I shot in raw format with Auto Bracketing with my Canon camera and used Photoshop CS 5 HDR processing. It was just before sunset around 8:45 pm last night, and after a rain, so colors are bit more vibrant after it rains. Here are pictures, you will have to click on the them as they don't look good in small format:

Fireworks in Bay City ,MI

The Bay City Fireworks Festival is one of the greatest fireworks shows/festivals in Michigan. People come from all over Michigan to see the show. The festival runs from July 3rd, 2008 to July 5th, 2008 with fireworks every night and entertainment every day. We went on Saturday July 5th and watched the 45 minute show. The spectacle is enhanced by it's proximity to the Saginaw River, providing great viewing locations all around the park's area, along the river banks and from boats on the river. This year they started charging $1 for each person that wants to sit near the riverwalk. We decided to do that and got a great view (despite one tree). Here are some pictures I took with my Digital Canon Rebel XT. I shot with an 18-55mm lens on a tripod in manual mode at f11 and varied shutter speeds of 3-4 seconds, and sometimes 5 seconds. Later I used my Sigma 10-22mm wide angle lens, as you can see the river and audience in some of the shots (some of the pictures look like a war is going on). Click on a picture for a larger version. Enjoy!