Yesterday I spent my first 4th of July in Miami, so naturally I had to go to the beach to check out the fireworks. I could have gone somewhere for a more sweeping view of the various displays up and down the coasts of South Florida, but instead I opted to get a few blocks away from the main show on Miami Beach.

I took my 5D Mark III and my new/used 70-200mm lens. No tripod and nothing else. Here are some of my favorite shots of the evening. If I had gotten there a little bit earlier (and with my 24-105mm) I might have gotten some nicer ones, but I’m still pretty happy with these, especially considering everything was handheld.

As I keep saying, that Canon is a beast! You might have noticed, but for some of these captures, I pumped the ISO all the way up to 12800. Although there is some visible noise (thanks to and despite some Lightroom processing), it doesn’t look too bad. Next year, I’ll have my tripod with me… hopefully.