Photographing Fireworks

[Wes]

With the upcoming 4th of July celebrations I'm sure that many of us will be out and about spanning pics of some of the festivities. I've never been very successful in the past when it came to photographing large fireworks displays. Any tips?

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by xmenporsche

With the upcoming 4th of July celebrations I'm sure that many of us will be out and about spanning pics of some of the festivities. I've never been very successful in the past when it came to photographing large fireworks displays. Any tips?

Here are some resources:

NYIP's suggestions.

Smithsonian Photographer's ideas.

And some more interesting suggestions.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

One thing that can make some interesting shots is to jiggle the camera just a bit during a long exposure, makes the trails of the fireworks wiggle.

Remember that you are shooting what is basically a hot point of light that is moving across the exposure plain of the camera so you don't need a wide open lens but one that is shut down-past F8 and actually more in the F16 and even F22 range, so you are shooting in MANUAL MODE. If you have the camera set on auto and on autofocus it will be hunting all over the place during the exposure and you won't get a decent shot. Also your ASA should be in the lower range, 100 to 200 or so, you don't need it pushed up past 400 unless you are really trying to capture something that isn't well lit in the background/foreground.

You would be really suprised what the reading would be of a fireworks explosion if you had a 1 degree meter measuring it.

[DXLR8]

I would think that you would want to open your shutter into a black sky and keep it open until the firework goes off, then closing the shutter. I have done this with lightning before with great results.

[venchka]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

...you are shooting in MANUAL MODE.

For some of us, that's all we have.

Thanks for the tips. I have been pondering this lately. If the fire ban is lifted in Wood County, I'm going to dust off the 17-35 and 24-70 lenses and try my hand at some fireworks photos.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Depends on what look that you want to get and how fast you are on the trigger and if you have your mirror locked up. If you fire off before it explodes you may pick up the upward trail of the fireworks itself, once you get a hang of it you can tell pretty well when it is going to explode by listening to the firework leaving it's launching tube, and then you will have the big flash of the firework. While if you are good on your timing you may open your shutter right as the big flash goes off-hopefully just right after by a milisecond or two- and you get more of the streaking of the individual pellets of material as they burn in their colors.

Hardest ones to get are what I like to call the flash bombs-the ones that have a very bright fast burining light but put out a lot of noise-you just have to be aimed at the right spot with the lense open.

Fireworks are almost a great time to have multiple bodies on tripods set up shooting-run a gang of bulb cords to your hand and fire away at the sky-each camera set up with a slightly different lense and F stop.

[epronske]

I do f/8 to f/11 with the camera set on B mode and count to 8 to 10 seconds or set the camera to 10 seconds at ISO 100. Obviously on a steady tripod and cable release. Turn off the autocus and prefocus to where you think you will need to be. It may take tracking a shot without exposing and manually focussing while the shot explodes to be able to determine the focus point. I usually begin the exposure when I hear the thump of the launch and see the red flare of the firework rising. With this long an exposure I can get multiple bursts. A wider angle lens is best because not every shot follows the same path. With a wider lens you get a much better chance of capturing the entire burst on the frame. Don't be too surprised if you don't get very many keepers because not all of the bursts will be completely captured on the frame or be centered. Proper framing of these can be a lot of trial and error. It is hard to frame when completely dark outside. I shot some fireworks with a Minolta 7D digital SLR last year and noticed that with the long exposure came long write times to the card and missed some shots while the data was being written to the card so be ready for this. I do have fairly fast cards too. Obviously with film this won't be a problem.

[nuke]

So, looks like no one has mentioned this. While you can, and many people do, shoot at very tight apertures and long exposures, there is another method. I have done both, and each way is unique and gives two very different views.

Instead of shooting at 100ISO, bump that up to 200 (still extremely low noise levels, depending on your camera, maybe even go up to 400). Instead of shooting at f/22, which really isn't needed since you are so far away from the fireworks anyways (very powerful fireworks shooting approx. 400-500 yards off). Expose the shot with a 1/6 to 1/15th second shutter, adjusting the aperture and ISO to get the light exposed correctly. I have used this method and it works great. Again, they vary from each other, and it depends on the type of fireworks.

[engstrom]

I shoot fireworks with a wide angle to normal lens (24mm - 50mm) depending on where I am in relation to the fireworks show. If you're reasonably close fireworks are surprising large so don't be concerned with going wide. Also, you'll be able to see where the fireworks are going off and adjust during the show. Most of the shows I've been to are around 15 minutes long so you can play around and figure out the best settings during the show by looking at the preview and histogram. I usually start with ISO 100 f11 and bulb exposure on a steady tripod using a remote release. Also you can open the shutter and take a piece of black posterboard to cover/uncover the lens between shots in order to get multiple bursts on the same frame. With photoshop though it's pretty easy to combine bursts.

One very important thing I've learned is pictures of just fireworks bursts are pretty boring pictures. Sure, there are exceptions but in my mind the thing that makes a firework picture interesting is what you have in the picture with the fireworks. Photoshop can help here too as evidenced by my picture below.

[epronske]

John,
Good comment about adding something of interest to the fireworks shot. Nice shot of the Dallas Skyline.
Erik (Plano High Class '75)

[ndsimm]

Found another article with soe good tips as well
http://www.nikonnet.com/dyn/articles...etail/227.html

[babybluetx23]

OMG! that photo is AMAZING!

[sharpfocus]

I set the aperture at f11 and set the shutter at 5 seconds. I use a tripod with a remote shutter release. My technique is to keep clicking until the show is over or the card is full. :-) Bob

[epronske]

Bob,
Yeah baby yeah!
(In the words of Austin Powers)
Erik

[Cope]

http://www.wolfcamera.com/static/art...fireworks.html