While I took one of my photography classes, the instructor used a homemade lens cover that looked like a cheap graduation mortarboard made with some heavyweight black construction paper, and that what his "shutter" control for fireworks. He commented that he had tried the lens cap thing and the remote release timer, but he was playing around and the light weight of the paper and ease of sliding the makeshift mortorboard over the lens was too easy.
Determine where the fireworks will be launched from. Check wind direction.
Do not sit upwind or downwind, the smoke cloud fogs the images. Let the wind carry the smoke to either side. If they are fired off quickly and close together, the smoke will not clear as well. Sit where the background is dark. Water in the foreground can be good for reflections.
Solid tripod. Remote shutter release (one that lets you stand behind camera)
Set focus (manually or auto) on a good bright burst, then switch to manual focus mode. Using autofocus on each frame often results in focus hunting and results in many missed frames. Focus, set to Manual focus, forget. Review once in a while to verify focus in case something gets bumped.
Low ISO to avoid noise. Control exposure using aperture setting, f/8-f/11 is a good starting point. Take a couple shots, review, adjust as necessary. Varies depending on the on the burst intensity.
Use Bulb mode to open the shutter prior to the burst (listen for the pop at launch) and let the fireworks paint an image on your sensor. You decide how much of the burst you want, then close the shutter. Perhaps 5-10 seconds.
To combine more than one burst, use bulb mode leaving the shutter open to catch as many bursts as you want. Use a ball cap to cover the lens, remove the cap during each burst you want to capture. When done, close shutter.
Takes practice to get proper exposure and good timing, then your keeper rate goes up. As mentioned above, do not overexpose as the colors blow out easily.
Shoot RAW which provides more options for processing these contrasty images.
Here are a couple of my fireworks galleries with more samples...
tcssas wrote:
Tripod is the only thing constant and without which not a single picture would be a keeper.
I must say while a tripod might be preferred, it's not absolutely necessary. I've taken images of fireworks hand-held that came out just as good as those with a tripod. Granted, I had fewer keepers to choose from with the hand-held shots, but in a pinch it can be done.
TRIPOD, cable release, MLU, f/5.6 - f/8, lens determined by location, set your manual focus, ISO 200-400. I trip the MLU - no need to look in the viewfinder - and wait for the shot.
Dave
This is a great thread with great information. Fireworks have become boring over the years but being behind the lens this year will make them fun again!
For me the best rsults have come:
On a tripod - its a dealbreaker without one
With a remote release - ditto from above
at iso 100
experimenting between f8-f16 on the 1st few images (I view the histogram to be sure I'm in the ballpark on the exposures)
My exposure times are anywhere from 2-8 seconds
I have found you can get pretty good at estimating the times of the bursts from the 'woomp' of the launch.
A black void background takes a lot away from otherwise very good fireworks shots.
Here is one from a motorcycle ride I took to Mt Rushmore to photograph their display:
A few from last year. About 50% crop (went too far) with the 85 F/1.8 on the 5D tripod mounted, ISO 100, f11. exposure between 5 and 15 seconds with remote.
Tip Number 1: leave tripod, cable release , memory card, and camera at home.
Tip number 2: bringa good meal, some earplugs or better yet a fully charged iPod, IPhone, Zune, whatever with your favorite music on it. Don't forget ear buds or headphones (the sound tracks are usually awful), your family, and optionally your friends.
Tip 3: Don't forget the very cold beer or wine. And a blanket. And a way to wheel whatever you brought in (including your trash) back out. Nothing says "unpatriotic" like leaving your mess behind so your municipality of choice has to spend your tax dollars cleaning up after your lazy a$$.
jamach wrote:
what is a good technique and settings to use for photoing fireworks? I will be going to the fireworks this weekend with family and we want to get some good pics, thanks in advance
Tripod, shutter release cable, bulb mode, try small apertures low ISO first.
I just discovered that the NYC (Macy's) fireworks have been moved - as of last year - to the Hudson River, & are no longer over the East River. Can anyone tell me whether it's worth going to the Brooklyn Promenade anymore to take photo's or is the west side of Manhattan (or Jersey) the only really good vantage point now?
IMHO, the best fireworks shots have interesting foreground elements. You can find pretty colors and patterns in shots with just the fireworks singled out, but shots like Dave's above with the crowd in the shot are the special ones.
I have found that rather than increase exposure time or shoot with a wider appeture, it is best to increase ISO.
The reason being is that 5-8 seconds catches alot of movement in the fireworks, a longer exposure usually increases the clutter in the shot, shooting at a wider appeture makes any backgrounds more OOF.
Increasing ISO allows "more light" to hit the sensor, keeps exposure times to an optimun time, ensures any backgrounds remain in focus and allows any water reflection to register on the sensor.
Well thats my theory anyway
I was shooting around Sydney Harbour on Friday night and just as I got to Milsons Point (after walking from Mrs MacQuaries Chair) an unexpected fireworks barrage went off, I only had time to get 1 shot off as by the time got unpacked and setup up it was finished.
This shot is the only one I got
and was
F8
6 seconds
ISO 100
Shot with a Canon 30D and Tokina 16-50/2.8 lens I was testing for a friend, Good lens I must admit.
This is unedited as I have no real editing software on this laptop.
There was a lot of good info and tips in this thread, so I thought I'd post one of the shots I took last night in Chicago using some of the advice here. This was the first time I have tried fireworks, and while I wouldn't say I got a "Holy Cow!" image, I got some that I liked. Here is one.
Canon 7D, EF-S 17-55IS, Tripod, MLU, cable release, ISO 100, f/8, Manual Focus set at infinity, Bulb exposure (6 seconds in this instance).
Shot RAW and found that using "Daylight" as WB seemed to work best.
