Fireworks time.

ac12 · Jun 28, 2021

Fireworks is one thing that bugs me about modern tele zooms.
Many do NOT have a tripod foot on them.

So depending on your distance from the fireworks, you could end up with a long lens, like a 70-300 on your camera, and you are supporting it from the camera. NOT a good setup for stability or stress on the tripod socket.
Can your tripod even support a front-heavy setup, without it sagging. I would not even try the Canon 70-300 on a T7i. That would be way too front heavy for me.

I have an old Nikon 75-300 that I keep for that one reason. It has a tripod foot.
The later 70-300 zooms do not have a tripod foot, and would have to be camera mounted on the tripod.

ronlane · Jun 30, 2021

Well Monday night was a rain out for fireworks. And last night just about got rained out. But I did manage to get out and shoot with just the 6-stop ND on the 24-70mm. I didn't go as long on the shutter on these as I was trying Sunday night.

Here were a couple that I liked. There really weren't enough people shooting them off to get full frame coverage like I wanted.

About 20 second shutter.

16 second shutter.

20 second shutter, composite of like 5 images. (All 20 seconds long)

smoke665 · Jun 30, 2021

For me I lean toward the last, but I prefer a black sky. Others might find those with the more visible sky better. I'm sure however you go, they will be good!

ac12 · Jun 30, 2021

Interesting how bright the clouds are on #1.
I think that is the same problem astronomers in the city face, light pollution.

#2 has just enough clouds to make it interesting, without the color diluting brightness of #1.

I LIKE #3, the composite.
It's fun to see the visual chaos in a multi-shot like that.

ronlane · Jun 30, 2021

ac12 said:
Interesting how bright the clouds are on #1.
I think that is the same problem astronomers in the city face, light pollution.

#2 has just enough clouds to make it interesting, without the color diluting brightness of #1.

I LIKE #3, the composite.
It's fun to see the visual chaos in a multi-shot like that.

That was the sun coming in on #1 and that 4 seconds of shutter cause one to be lighter than the other. It was taken just before 8:00 pm so it was well before sunset. But the dark storm clouds were rolling in. I was about a 2 minute walk from my front door and got inside just before it came down good.

SquarePeg · Jun 30, 2021

I definitely prefer the visible sky - it gives them a lot of interest IMO. Nice job with these I like them a lot.

ronlane · Jul 1, 2021

Seems like every other night I am not happy with images. Last night was that night and tonight was better.

All were long exposure with the 6-stop ND filter. Two were composites of multiple images and one was a single exposure.

1) 4 images combined.

2) Another 4 image composite.

3) One single image.

ronlane · Jul 2, 2021

Friday night was a very nice out and a lot of people out shooting. I didn't use the ND filter tonight but did use the longer exposures. This is a combination of single exposure and composites.

1) The boy came home and had to shoot some off. This is with a 14mm on a platypod long exposure. I thought the ghosting was cool.

2) A three shot composite from my driveway.

3) A single exposure image with the ND filter.

4) A three shot composite at the park.

5) Single exposure.

Sharpshooterr · Jul 3, 2021

Ron, I hope this is not a hijack but I consider myself somewhat of an experienced fireworks shooter.
I approach fireworks the same way I would approach ant other genre, like nature, landscape or people. I survey my venue and plan what else I want in the frame and from what angle etc., just like I plan any other shot. I also prefer to make them environmental fireworks shots as I feel the people and the location adds a lot to the story just like any other shot.
I've never done a composite or used filters but have to say that fireworks are a bit of a crap shoot as they can be great or be nothing!
And yes, the white explosion is always gonna be blown out, it's the nature of fireworks but a small amount of blowout isn't very distracting if the bloom is good.
If you think this is a hijack just say so and I'll be glad to remove my post!!
SS

ronlane · Jul 3, 2021

@Sharpshooterr, that's not hijacking this. I just put this in Just for Fun because I'm not really looking for C&C or help with how to shoot fireworks. I understand what you are saying about the environment and you are correct when you are photographing the big displays like the examples you have shown. However, all of the fireworks images I have captured in this thread are with fireworks that individuals have purchased at fireworks stands here in town and they shoot them all all week.

I get to go "play" every night for about a week each year and from my house or the park there is a 360 degree "show" of fireworks from all over town. I just go to the edge of the park in order to capture fireworks, I change it up some with dark backgrounds and some that are lighter.

None of these images were intended to portfolio grade for me. I have captured my portfolio fireworks piece last year and it was used for the cover of the Cities Chamber of Commerce magazine this year.

pendennis · Jul 3, 2021

Pretty much straight out of the camera. Taken at The Henry Ford display last night.

photoflyer · Jul 4, 2021

Sharpshooterr said:
Ron, I hope this is not a hijack but I consider myself somewhat of an experienced fireworks shooter.

I consider myself an inexperienced fireworks shooter but I'll hijack too. Lake Anna VA.

These were shot with an R6 on a monopod at 25600 ISO from a rocking boat using a 70-200 2.8 Mark II L @ 2.8.

The lightest was at 1/5 sec and the darkest was 1/30th. All were underexposed by two stops. In post I used maximum noise reduction.

Next time I'll shoot from a dock on a tripod. Will be fun trying to improve on these.

SquarePeg · Jul 4, 2021

Glad you all got some fireworks to shoot. Boston harbor fireworks went on last night in the rain. I did not go out to shoot them but sone friends did and they got some shots that were unique due to rain bokeh. Tonight’s display is over Boston Common (no Esplanade show this year). I may head into the city if I can think of a decent vantage point.