How to Shoot Fireworks - 4th of July

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Since every year the same question arises (understandably) I thought we could put together a thread of tips and examples of fireworks from years past.

If you have a fireworks shot you're proud of, please post it here with any shooting information you can remember.

Also, if you just know of a good article about shooting fireworks, add the link. Anything you think would be helpful.

I'll start it off with something simple. I got an email today with this link in it from Adorama. It's got some good general ideas (and some dopey marketing):
http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?a...op=academy_new

So let's have at it. I'm excited to see what many of you have shot in the past.

_/oe

[rogerfsmith]

Find a location where powerlines won't be in the way.
Digitial make it easy because of the LCD preview. But here's a trick. Most LCDs are set to bright. Go into the camera's menu and set the brightess of the LCD preview to usually about one notch above its lowest setting. Now you will get a more faithful rendition of the shot.

Cheers,
Roger

[Daylon]

Basically same as for lightning, right? f-16, iso 100, tripod, open shutter when you hear the "thump" of the cannon and hold it til your happy?

D.

[Davidtxs]

be sure and use a wider lens last year i shot these with the 70 200 VR from the corner of Addison Rd and Kellar Springs and was way too tight i think it would have been better with something else in the frame ie buildings etc a longer exp also the exif on these is
70mm f9 1.0 seconds iso 200

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Ok lets get down to the basics of what FIREWORKS (FW), the kind shot into the sky, are- FIREWORKS are POINTS OF LIGHT that are moving. If your old school and shooting film, where I started shooting FW you used a slow film to shoot sky shots with no background because you wanted a dark sky and contrast between the FW and the sky since you didn't have to worry about the FW not burning into the film enough, so going digital you pretty much want to shoot the same way-slow ASA.

Now the second step is deciding what type of LOOK do you want your FW shot to be? Do you want the Traditional LONG Tails of the FW with all the colors that some change as they discharge or do you want tight fireballs of color? If you want to LONG trails then you want an exposure in the seconds range vs tenths of a second now if you want to try some interesting effects you can actually fire your shutter after the initial explosion goes off by a part of a second and the center of the pattern will be empty and the streams will seam to come from nowhere.

Now the big challenge is how to shoot a Skyline in the background with the FW in the foreground and that is where you expose for the BK and you set your exposure for long enough that you are sure to capture the trails that you want of the FW. So say you set up Sat Night for the Dallas FW show on the Trinity and you have downtown in the background you want to set your ASA low, your exposure for the 2-3 second range if not longer if you are opening your shutter when you hear the FW being launched and keeping it open while the FW explodes in the sky and then come up with the F stop that will be needed, don't worry about the incidental light that the FW add to the shot it won't cause your background to overexpose.

Now if you want a silhoutte type shot with dark buildings in the foreground and the FW in the background you will want to shoot the FW as if there is no FG objects and in fact you may even want to step your F stop down a full stop-those FW will really burn into film and I bet into the sensor and still be bright in your shot.

Now all of this entails using a tripod and a cable release of some sort, anticipating where the FW will be going off in the sky, mesquito repellant, and patience.

Now if you are shooting a 4th Get together with the kids out on the Ranch where the kids are shooting off bottle rockets, cherry bombs, M-80's, etc and the little ones playing with sparklers then when shooting the sprakler shots you need to see how much light one of them suckers puts out-pretty consistant over the life of it- and expose for the reflected light from the sparkler off of the child/adult and don't worry about the overexposure of the sparkler itself, you may want to step down a 1/3 to a 1/2 stop to give it some warmth but that can be done in post if the exposure is right otherwise. (just like shooting a birthday cake blowing out the candles scene).

[Daniel W.]

Fireworks are best shot with matches.

Sorry.

I did f/16, Bulb or 10-30sec exposure, ISO100-200, On top of a Winnebago. Best view.

[dbphotos]

Here's another link: http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOM..._fireworks.fci

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by dbphotos

Here's another link: http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOM..._fireworks.fci

Now that's an interesting idea...

[HFMarshburnJR]

This is the best and most straightforward advice I have ever seen on shooting fireworks. It comes from the Nikonians forum -

http://www.nikonians.org/html/resour...ireworks1.html

After reading through this last year, I was able to capture these. Enjoy.

HFM

[Jake]

I like to include other things in the shot, not just the fireworks. If you don't have a skyline then shoot some with the crowd in the shot. Anything will work really.
I also shoot in bulb, f/5.6 - f/8'ish iso100. The reason for bulb is becuase some burst are brighter then others and you can never tell until after they go off.


Here's an older shot.
4s f/7.1 at 28.0mm iso100

[dbphotos]

Jake, I think I've seen that photo before and it's still great! It really gives it perspective with the buildings in the background. Where did you shoot from?

[loana0320]

great info I meant to ask this question LOL.. it will be my first time with a slr shooting fireworks LOL I got my xt end of July last year

[JRW]

Basics - Make sure you use a tripod. Use a cable release or equivalent. If those are not available, set the self portrait timer for 2 sec.

I like to try and find a still body of water for reflections.

Shutter Priority for 1 sec.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by dbphotos

Jake, I think I've seen that photo before and it's still great! It really gives it perspective with the buildings in the background. Where did you shoot from?

Thanks! I was over behind LaGrave Field.
Here's a map, it's not exact but it's close
http://www.pbase.com/thejakestir/ima...60113/original

[Joe_Lorenzini]

I'm pretty sure I was standing right next to you when you took that shot Jake... we gotta do that again...

Anyway, last year I was at a city-wide picnic where everyone was sitting down on the grass. There were no trees, water, landmarks or lighted area anywhere so what I ended up doing was to flatten my tripod as low as it would go and place it between some people. I had to tweak the angle but by the finale I had it where I wanted it.

It gave me the following results which I like as it gives the fireworks some scale.

26mm, ISO 100, f/16 at 10 seconds, long exposure noise reduction set to ON:


_/oe