fireworks

[robyn_fresh]

With the 4th coming (and it being my fav holiday!); I plan to shoot fireworks. I have never done it before. Any tips?

 

[Feezor]

I haven't shot fireworks ethier, just researching it, so take what I say with a grain of salt.


I would use the bulb shutter speed setting and press the shutter just before it goes off and release after it is starting to dissipate and all you can see is the smoke. Use a wide angle as to capture the whole explosion then if for a certain picture you want just one part of it then you can crop later.

Someone else will probably chime in and give more advice and might say if my advice is good or maybe its all wrong and I need alot more research.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

There is tons of info if you use the search function of the forum. There's a thread from a week ago that I posted a bunch of links in.

 

[LittleMike]

Another thing to do (other than use the settings already mentioned in the other post) is be sure to scout out the area ahead of time. Know what direction the wind generally blows and stay upwind if possible. That will help minimize the smoke between you and the fireworks. Also, try to find a foreground to make it stand out from other similar pictures if possible. Here's an example I got several years ago with an old Nikon D50:

I just wish I would have shot a LITTLE wider so I didn't cut the top off, but oh well. Lesson learned!

 

[sovietdoc]

Location is everything for the fireworks. Last year I was shootin' them but I got there right as they started, so my placement wasn't chosen right. It ended up ruining all my shots because my cam doesn't give me 100% viewfinder coverage and a streetlight ended up in every single shot.

I am gonna get there early this year. But in general you need: MF the lens, Remote timer, bulb exp, about f/8-12 tripod and a remote.