First try at fireworks

[DanV1317]

I shot some with my 50mm 1.8 and some with my 70-200 2.8.

They just didn't come out like i had hoped they would. Maybe you guys can point out stuff i could have done better with them. I ended up doing like 2 second exposures with an F8. Was trying to toy around and see what worked best. I know the last one is overexposed for sure. It was during the end when they were blowing them off like crazy. lots of extra smoke in the air. I think i was just too close. I wasn't able to zoom really more than 75mm because it would be too close. i think if i were quite a ways away next time it would have been better.
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[rasheemo]

nice! today was my first try at fireworks too =]

mind if i post some of my pictures? they came out alright i think

 

[tirediron]

Not bad at all for a first attempt. It looks like you did all the basic things correctly. Good fireworks shots are like real estate: Location, location, location. To get the best shots, you need to figure out an optimal shooting spot and get there before anyone else. I've been known to arrive 2-3 hours early and wait, just to hold my spot.

Fireworks are a 'shoot lots and keep a few' scenario. On a typical 20-30 minute major fireworks display I will usually shoot 200+ images, and if I have 15-20 that are keepers, I'm very happy with that.

As far as the blown centres, what ISO did you use?

 

[rasheemo]

the conditions SUCKED. it was cloudy, raining, NO possible background scene for a backdrop, hard to follow many of the fireworks because i had to kneel and squint and my tripod wasn't high enough and my contacts were killing my eyes haha. =[

 

[EW1066]

My first time shooting fireworks also. 65 shots and I like them all......This is the best one in my opinion

Vince

 

[tirediron]

One point that I will add is that fireworks images generally look better if there is a point which anchors them, that is, a skyline, building or some other point which gives a sense of perspective and position.

 

[Josh66]

Also my first time shooting fireworks...

These were all taken with the "POS" 18-55 kit lens @18mm. (Hey, it's the widest glass I own, and despite the bad rap it gets - it ain't that bad.)

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I think they came out alright. It would be nice if there was something interesting in the foreground, but all I had was a lake.

-edit-
LOL, the third one kinda looks like a palm tree.

-edit-
For some reason #1 isn't showing up...I don't know why. FIXED

 

[DanV1317]

I was using an ISO 100. THe other problem was that there was a dike there which everybody was sitting on that you can see in the bottom of the pictures. Along the dike were lights which i didn't want to overexpose too much in each picture. It deffinatly wasn't a prime location to get good pictures. Really not a "scenic" area to photograph in.

 

[phototard]

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I REALLY like that picture, nice shots!

 

[MACollum]

Also my first time shooting fireworks...

These were all taken with the "POS" 18-55 kit lens @18mm. (Hey, it's the widest glass I own, and despite the bad rap it gets - it ain't that bad.)

I used my kit lens as well. I would have preferred my telephoto but it's on the fritz and I have yet to send it in. Not that it would have done me any good; I ended up zooming wider at one point. There were some towers on the ground (the kind with the red lights on them) so I didn't want to go wider. I had to clone out some of the red lights on the towers.

 

[TNFlyBoy]

I didn't get out to see any of the big professional shows this year but i did get some pretty alright small shots

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enjoy!

 

[Bamb00]

^^#1 looks really cool.. like DNA

 

[TNFlyBoy]

^^#1 looks really cool.. like DNA

exactly what i thought too!! i named it "double helix" on flickr

 

[AmberBella]

Awesome shots! I'm so jealous of everyone's close up pictures.

My first time with fireworks too...but we were very far away from all displays on the top of my husband's work building. We could see about 10 displays from that vantage point, and the city.

This is my favorite:

 

[aramator]

i wish we had fireworks over here