tips on shooting fireworks!

Would appreciate any and all tips on shooting fireworks. thanks, scott

ok scott, not really an UW photo question but i'll oblige. real quick cause i'm runnin out the door:

tripod (obviously) preferably with a cable release, set a manual focus on infinity, manual exposure, indoor (incandescent) WB.

the biggest issue is the brightness of the fireworks varies throughout the display, so you're either constantly adjusting your aperture - which is the determining factor of the fireworks brightness, or some will be properly exposed and some will not. i find a good starting point is f/5.6-f/8 and 5-15secs at iso200-400.

figure beforehand what shutter speeds youll need to get background exposure, you obviously don't just want fireworks in teh photo, you want some sort of subject in the foreground, i like to frame up a group of people watchign them or maybe a building etc. however, you want someting that's lit up inthe foreground (by street lights etc), if, say you had a dark beach, you'll need such a long exposure to capture it there will be too many fireworks in the frame.

as the first few go off, check the LCD, using the blinking highlights, a little blinking in the middle of the fireworks is ok, but not on the streaks. adjust aperture accordingly, then adjust shutter speed to match. by now you know how long you need to expose the foreground so either set that in camera or use your cable release on bulb, that way you can get an approx foreground exposure and time your shutter with the fireworks, so, for instance, it doesn't close right as one's popping off, you want the streaks thru the sky etc.

i usually find, with a foreground scene lit by street lamps, that about 3-5 full fireworks from pop thru the streaks etc are just about right. keep checking the LCD with blinky highlights. as teh finale starts, close that aperture up a lot, i'm talking f/11-f/16 or more and hope the light from the fireworks exposed the foreground, it usually does'nt enough, there's usually too much an exposure difference between the finale fireworks and the ambient to make it work.

its not easy and takes practice just be set up and ready ahead of time and have your ambient exposures at different apertures in your head to adjust on the fly. good luck. cheers,

chris

its not easy and takes practice just be set up and ready ahead of time and have your ambient exposures at different apertures in your head to adjust on the fly. good luck. cheers,

 

chris

It certainly does take practice. I have had one attempt at it which was when the QE2 sailed out of Southampton docks for her last time. Not a great shot, but was great fun trying to get it right ( even if I didnt )

One tip I would add is to try and get up wind of them as if there are too many fireworks there could be a lot of smoke. Unless of course you want the smokey effect in your shot.

Stew

well i have a few mins now, the weather's picked up suddenly and we've swapped from diving to wakeboarding.... so i got time to post the only 2 fireworks shots i can find right now:

8.2secs at f/11 iso200

.6secs (hmm?? seems too short) at f/8 iso640, must've been the finale, why only .6secs shutter, the foreground was fairly dark and had to dodge it out a bit

as you can see, exposures vary a lot depending on the situation so you have to judge it from the lcd as you go. cheers,

chris

thanks you all, sorry it's not uw related but I thought this would be the place to ask. Ok, I know tripod and differnets settings, etc. What speed would you start at and would you shoot manual or shutter...thanks,Scott

What speed would you start at and would you shoot manual or shutter...thanks,Scott

Hi Scott,

As luck would have it, I've been attending the Nikonians D300 workshop the past two days. While in class, someone asked the instructor about how to shoot fireworks. I'll share what I learned in class yesterday from the instructor. Use your tripod and a cable release. If you don't have one for your D300, you can probably get one at your local camera store. Press Mode on top of the camera and put it in Manual Mode (it will say M). When you adjust for shutter speed, set for bulb. On the D300, adjust the rear command dial until you get to where it says bulb. This is the shutter speed next to 30" (the 30" means 30 seconds on the D300). Use an ISO of about 320, or anywhere between 200 and 400. It sounds strange, but the instructor suggested setting White Balance to Sunny. If you use Picture Controls, you might consider using the Vivid Picture Control. Set your f stop for f5.6. As Chris suggests, you may want to try 5 to 15 seconds. Use your cable release to control how long the shutter stays open. The instructor also suggested shooting early before it gets too smoky. In other words, don't wait for the finale or there will be too much smoke!

I'm not much help myself as the last time I shot fireworks was at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC in the 1970's with a film camera. However, even though the medium was film, I still used a cable release and tripod.

Hope that helps.

Ellen

thanks all, i have the cable release and will give it a go. I've never gotten anything close to the pics above. Apprecaite the info. Hope everyone has a safe 4th of July.