4th of July fireworks

[plastii]

Hi.

Here are some shoots I took on Friday. This was my first time shooting fireworks so please be gentle

My setup:
Tripod
Nikon D80
Nikon 18-55 3.5-5.6
Remote release
F11, Bulb mode. I used piece of board to cover the lens

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

 

[m1a1fan]

A very nice series of images here. Number five is my favorite though. For your first time, I think you did a very nice job with these.

 

[skier66]

love #5!

 

[~Stella~]

Very nice - much better than mine turned out!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[THORHAMMER]

Very nice !

Very clean and vibrant

 

[plastii]

Thanks guys. I missed few good ones, because I was trying to "adjust" my equipment.

 

[manaheim]

You used a piece of board to cover the lens? I'm confused? What do you mean by that?

Also to those who have done more of these... would a wider aperature yield a different result? These are very similar to some I took recently where the lines seem pretty thin and sharp... but is that what is "expected" in these?

It's an interesting effect, but I compare them to some I took eons ago where I had a wide open aperature and got a very different look... a look that I felt was actually better/preferable.

What is generally considered the preferred method for taking these?

 

[plastii]

You used a piece of board to cover the lens? I'm confused? What do you mean by that?

Since I used BULB mode I had to use a paper board to cover my lens between bursts. I didn't want to overexpose the shots by keeping the lens open for such a long time.

 

[jvgig]

some of the cleanest firework images I have seen. Did you clean up the sky?

 

[KabeXTi]

I think #1 is the best.

 

[manaheim]

Since I used BULB mode I had to use a paper board to cover my lens between bursts. I didn't want to overexpose the shots by keeping the lens open for such a long time.

Oh hey... neat idea. Cool. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[plastii]

Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate it.

 

[shorty6049]

to answer your question manaheim- Yeah, a wider aperture would give you a different result, because if you think of the 'stars' as a point of light coming from the firework, if your aperture is wide open, you'll see a bright large dot, if you tighten it all the way down, you get more of a star shape because of the diffraction from the aperture blades. now take that point of light, and move it along a line, and you have a firework. just a bunch of points of light all in a line overlapping each other, so the effect will be different with different apertures.

 

[MikkiStreak]

I like #3---- the different types of fireworks adds more interest than the typical "burst" shots... I also like #7 because the landscape under the fireworks came through more and adds more visual interest. It also gives some perspective to how large the fireworks were (by showing the size of the trees in relation to them).

 

[plastii]

I like #3---- the different types of fireworks adds more interest than the typical "burst" shots... I also like #7 because the landscape under the fireworks came through more and adds more visual interest. It also gives some perspective to how large the fireworks were (by showing the size of the trees in relation to them).

I also like #7 just because of the trees.