4th Fireworks Exposure suggestions.

[ShooterJ]

Still carrying the weight.. but it's a bit easier in a pack.

 

[Richichi]

another good trick for getting multiple bursts is doing a longer exposure like 10 seconds or so and hold a black card in front of the lens in between each bursts - play around shooting fireworks is fun - even a zoom in during exposure could be fun !

 

[BillInTexas]

Hi. I am new here but, I thought I would chime in on this one. I agree with the tips you have already received. I recently returned from a trip to Disney World and I went prepared to make an attempt at getting some very good shots. I had a tripod, remote shutter release, and even a black card so I could try the technique of using bulb mode, and holding the black card in front of the lens between 2-3 successive bursts to get multiple exposures in one shot. I had read about using a small aperture and low ISO. I was ready. But, alas, the best laid plans often go awry. I found myself in the middle of Main Street, USA, with only my camera in hand. I couldn’t get back to the room to pick up my additional equipment and back to the park in time so, I did the best I could handheld. These shots were taken at about 1/6 second if I remember correctly. I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and used continuous mode when I felt the shell was about to go off. Trust me, there were a lot of shots that came out a bit blurry but, a few weren’t too bad.

 

[EIngerson]

Just shot some fireworks the other day. I shot in Bulb mode. F8-13ish, ISO 100, Some recommend using hyper-focus, I actually auto focused on the first burst then locked it to manual focus. F8 and above will capture it nice and sharp. Tripod is absolutely required. I played around with shutter speed and all said and done ended up with about a 3 count. (Hear the mortar fire, press the shutter release, count to 3"ish" and release the shutter.
1.

Kadena-11 by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr
2.

Kadena-15 by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr
3.

Kadena-13 by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr


4.
Kadena-16 by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr

 

[Derrel]

A few things. FOCUSING is critical: many lenses will focus beyond infinity (as in all of the ED-glass Nikkor lenses that I am aware of), so it's possible to back-focus fireworks that are 200 to 400 feet distant pretty easily. You need to get the focusing issues worked out ahead of time. You do not want Infinity focus unless the fireworks are a long ways away.

Smaller, home-sized Roman candles and such are not as bright as large, commercial show fireworks. So, expose accordingly. It seems to me also that when one is closer, there's a pretty easy chance to over-expose fireworks at ISO values like 400 to 800; fireworks are very bright.

One tip: tun Long Exposure Noise Reduction to the OFF setting in the custom function menus, or a 30-second exposure will take another 30 seconds or so of LE-NR before you can shoot again.

You can shoot fireworks as "single burst", or as timed exposure, multi-burst shots. With higher ISO values at close distances, there is a good chance that you will get both the fireworks AND some of the smoke showing, which can be good or bad. Depends.

ISO 100, f/8, 15 seconds to get multiple pops is a good starting point. Shoot some talls! Shoot some wides too, maybe. Depends. Depends a LOT on where you are; over water? Shooting across a major river like the Columbia or the Potomac? Bring the 70-200 or 300. Shooting from 250 feet at a small show from right UNDERNEATH the fireworks? Bring that 10-22 lens!

 

[ronlane]

Here is one I did last night at ISO200, 35mm, f/11, 25.0 secs


untitled-21-3.jpg by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

 

[TCampbell]

Tripod. Remote trigger. lowest iso (50,100) f8-11, drag the shutter ( 1sec to 10secs should work)

I'm not familiar with the technique of "dragging the shutter", what exactly does that mean?

"Dragging the shutter" usually applies when you're taking an exposure lit by both flash and ambient lighting at the same time. Usually the flash is very powerful... it delivers all of it's light in an instant. Keeping the shutter open longer wont increase the light exposure from the FLASH because the flash has already delivered it's light and shut down. But it WILL keep collecting light from ambient sources.

This means you can set an f-stop for an appropriate exposure from the, say, the fireworks... but use a much longer shutter speed to bring up the exposure of the landscape/cityscape below.

But more importantly... it takes a while for fireworks to burn and display everything they're going to display -- so a quick exposure would just capture a tiny part of the explosion.

You'll control the saturation of the explosion by adjusting the f-stop. You'll adjust the saturation of the landscape by adjusting the shutter (and generally you'll want at least a 4 second exposure just to capture the full explosion of a single shell exploding... and you can go longer if you'd like.)

As I browse through my own old fireworks shots, I see that I mostly used f/11 and 4 seconds at ISO 100. You'll probably want a wide lens (short focal length.)

You'll want a tripod and a remote shutter release.

 

[Derrel]

You can try a few hand-held shots too if you like. This one was made hand-held on a fishing trip to a very remote, isolated Washington town that had some fireworks well after the 4th of July. We were on a fishing trip, and I didn't have anything but my 5D and 24-105 f/4 zoom lens with me. Rather than shoot nothing, I tried a few hand-held shots.

This was 2 seconds hand-held, at f/9, at ISO 400, with the zoom at 105mm.

 

[Tailgunner]

You can try a few hand-held shots too if you like. This one was made hand-held on a fishing trip to a very remote, isolated Washington town that had some fireworks well after the 4th of July. We were on a fishing trip, and I didn't have anything but my 5D and 24-105 f/4 zoom lens with me. Rather than shoot nothing, I tried a few hand-held shots.

This was 2 seconds hand-held, at f/9, at ISO 400, with the zoom at 105mm.

Wow, that really nice all things considering.

Well, a bunch us at our downtown apartment are going to grill burgers and watch the downtown show from the garage roof top. I picked up a tripod finally and got a cable button. I just hope my 18-200mm does well, the show is off a little in the distance so fingers crossed.

 

[BillInTexas]

Tailgunner;2995195Wow, that really nice all things considering.

Well, a bunch us at our downtown apartment are going to grill burgers and watch the downtown show from the garage roof top. I picked up a tripod finally and got a cable button. I just hope my 18-200mm does well, the show is off a little in the distance so fingers crossed.

My handheld shots I took of the fireworks at Disney World were taken with the 18-200mm lens as well. It works fine. Those were taken in shutter priority mode at 1/6 second. Obviously, longer shutter speeds on a tripod will give you longer trails. I just want people to know it is possible to get some decent shots handheld if you don't have a tripod available.

 

[PropilotBW]

Most of the fireworks shows in Atlanta have been cancelled or postponed until Saturday, due to the 100% chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Which may be good, because my Vello shutter release hasn't been delivered yet!

 

[Tailgunner]

Tailgunner;2995195Wow, that really nice all things considering.

Well, a bunch us at our downtown apartment are going to grill burgers and watch the downtown show from the garage roof top. I picked up a tripod finally and got a cable button. I just hope my 18-200mm does well, the show is off a little in the distance so fingers crossed.

My handheld shots I took of the fireworks at Disney World were taken with the 18-200mm lens as well. It works fine. Those were taken in shutter priority mode at 1/6 second. Obviously, longer shutter speeds on a tripod will give you longer trails. I just want people to know it is possible to get some decent shots handheld if you don't have a tripod available.

Those are som bad ass shots for sure!

Where you located in Texas?

 

[BillInTexas]

Those are som bad ass shots for sure!


Where you located in Texas?

Thank you. I live in Houston.

 

[Tailgunner]

Those are som bad ass shots for sure!


Where you located in Texas?

Thank you. I live in Houston.

It rained every day when we visited Disney World lol

Anyhow, looking forward to more firework shots.

 

[PropilotBW]

Anybody catch some nice shots tonight?