shooting fireworks

chrisburke · Aug 4, 2007

I'm shooting a firework display tonight, and i've been doing some reading about it.

I want to make sure what i read is correct, and I need some help as well.

I should have low ISO right?? 200 is the lowest my camera will go (nikon d40)

Landscape is the nicest way to shoot i believe? (manual focus obviously)

now arpeture and shutter speed are my questions... arpture i believe should be somewhere betweek 8 and 16... arpeture is the first number on the display right for instance right now my camera says 10 F8 I understand that 10 is the arpeture.. what is the 8 and where should it be for fireworks>

shutter speed... i'm not sure i know how to change this on my camera? any help would be appreciated.

also what about white balance?? should that just be on auto???

Deena · Aug 4, 2007

10 is the shutter speed, aperture is the f number.... I don't know anything about your camera though, so no idea how to change it...

Although I found some great tutorials on shooting fireworks when i googled Photographing fireworks, awhile back

chrisburke · Aug 4, 2007

Deena said:
10 is the shutter speed, aperture is the f number.... I don't know anything about your camera though, so no idea how to change it...

Although I found some great tutorials on shooting fireworks when i googled Photographing fireworks, awhile back

OK if the 10 is the shutter speed i know how to change that for sure, just the flick of a dial, thanks... i also found some great stuff on google.. going to shoot the fireworks now.. will let you know how i make out..

Garbz · Aug 4, 2007

You will need to use the camera in manual for fireworks because as soon as the firework goes off the exposure changes and may completely throw out the camera settings.

The way I take photos is to set the ISO as low as it will go, set the shutter speed for the length of the streaks. At 1/10th they won't streak, at 2seconds you get some nice streaks, at 10seconds you will probably get multiple fireworks. I then set the aperture to expose for the background since I always get background in my fireworks. If I change the shutter speed I adjust the aperture accordingly.