Fireworks

[Mycah]

This Friday I'm going to a giant fireworks shows and want to take some pictures.

I've read the guide on this that DPS has, but have a couple questions.

I have a Nikon D60, with the 18-55mm VR lens, 55-200mm VR lens, an old 80-200mm Lens (Manual Focus), and the new 35mm VR lens.

Which one of these should I use?

How should I achieve the best focus, if I am a fairly large distance away (about a mile)?

If you have any other tips for me that'd be a great help!

[ressalg]

At that distance, I would think you could focus on infinity (then back it off just a touch... as seems to be the case with any lens when focusing to infinity). I'm hopefully going to be able to capture some fireworks tonight but have never tried before. I'm also counting on getting there early enough that I catch their test shots, too. Seems that every fireworks display I've ever been to does this... you know, to gauge the wind and stuff to make sure it's safe to proceed. Hopefully I'll be able to use their tests to frame and focus the shots for later in the evening.

Make sure you post your pics... good or bad... then tell us what you would do differently. Something tells me there's going to be a flood of fireworks pictures. What with Canada Day on the first and of course Independence Day on the fourth. By Monday we should all be sick of seeing fireworks.

Good luck!

[Mycah]

Thanks for the advice! I will def. post some pics!

[Nicole]

I'd say you might want to use the 55-200mm lens (but that depends on the distance as you said). I've tended to use my 18-55mm lens in the past, but I don't think that I'm usually a mile away from where the fireworks are being let off. I'd say use the lens that lets you zoom in to the fireworks but also lets you zoom out enough to capture some of the surrounding area.

This year I'm thinking of trying my 10-20mm lens for the winter carnival fireworks that are happening in the middle of July just for a change.

One other thing that I can't remember if that blog article mentions is to find your focus and then switch to manual focusing. That way your camera won't start hunting for focus when you start shooting.

Best of luck! It's a fun challenge

[Seltzer]

Definately switch to Manual focus! Otherwise the annoying thing will be trying to focus while you are missing getting the fireworks.
One primary thing, USE A TRIPOD! I don't think that can be said enough. You will be taking long exposures to capture the best of it so the tripod will sturdy things.
Make sure to turn off the flash and use either Night mode or go to the shutter options and use the bulb mode if you can. You will get lots of practice seeing the streams and knowing when you want to open and close the shutter and it's better with a bulb mode. Some people use remotes and if you are at the right angle it works. All of my shots have been fairly close to under the fireworks and never that far away so I have to track through the cam and it's easier for me to just use the shutter button on the cam.



Don't be afraid to play either! I had fun last year opening the shutter and then zooming in or i would zoom in all the way to get the explosion and then zoom out for effect. Not sure how those would work at a distance but always fun to try.

Zooming: