Fireworks Photography

[rsonnino]

Originally Posted by Nicole

Ok, the finales are *much* smaller here. I had a look through to see if I had any that were from around the finale, and this was one of the better ones:



That also gives you some idea of how close I usually wind up to the fireworks (although that is cropped from horizonal to vertical, but still). It may just be that we're thinking of different exposure times when we each think of "short"

I would definitely call 1 second "short" for this purpose. Mine end up more around 3-4 seconds. I will give it a try!
Thanks.

[scrapnmom77]

i'm wanting some advice on shooting kids playing with sparklers. i don't know if it would be the same as shooting fireworks in the sky or not. i will most likely take of the sky fireworks, but really want to get some fun ones of the kids with sparklers.

[wilswong]

Just share some fireworks over here in Singapore. Our Independence day is about a month after the US's so I find the tips very useful. The photos are taken last year during the fireworks festival.







As I do not have a shutter release for my Nikon D200. I have set it up for 2 Sec timer shot. A lot of anticipation and a lot of shots.

And fireworks do have a lot of smoke for the later part of the show. Really have to get the first 10 or so bursts right.

[Gonzo13]

Originally Posted by scrapnmom77

i'm wanting some advice on shooting kids playing with sparklers. i don't know if it would be the same as shooting fireworks in the sky or not. i will most likely take of the sky fireworks, but really want to get some fun ones of the kids with sparklers.

I would try using a second curtain flash with a long exposure. The kids would be visible in the flash and then what ever they did with the sparkler would be visible too. Just one thing that might work, never tried it with sparklers so I don't know.

[boswachter]

The shutter release can be the cable one or a remote. Just make sure you don't get yourself in the picture while pressing it.

Otherwise, take a LOT of pictures and vary the exposure times. Brightness changes all the time so some of the "finer" ones won't show up.



EXIF

[Ishyid]

What is a good distance to be from the fireworks. Will being pratically underneath them be too bright and come out overexposed?

[yolanda_b]

I will share my favorite, plus a link to the flickr set rather than try and post a stream of shots here. Click here to view the whole set of images from last night's display.

People were really nice about staying out of the camera's aiming field.
Complete story write-up here.

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by Ishyid

What is a good distance to be from the fireworks. Will being pratically underneath them be too bright and come out overexposed?

Because of the safety stuff, you'll definitely be far enough away. The best thing I can recommend for getting your settings right is to pick an aperture to start at and then adjust from there. Personally, I usually start around f/16 and then adjust up or down from there depending on how bright the fireworks are. If the fireworks are really bright, drop it down to like f/18-f/20. You'll be ok.

[Ishyid]

Alright, so I was out lastnight taking some pratice shots. Here are 4 of them. Please give me some feedback so I can adjust for tonights fireworks. Also has anyone played around with keeping your shutter open, and just put something black in front of your lens and then remove it to get multiple bursts? If so, please explain to me the details.Thanks a bunch.


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 2.7
Aperture: f/18.0
Focal Length: 40 mm
Focal Length: 40.0 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 2.1
Aperture: f/18.0
Focal Length: 40 mm
Focal Length: 40.0 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 1.5
Aperture: f/18.0
Focal Length: 40 mm
Focal Length: 40.0 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 2.9
Aperture: f/18.0
Focal Length: 48 mm
Focal Length: 47.6 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Ounce again Thanks a bunch, and any quick suggestions would be greatly appreceiated. Thanks
Joshua

[Nicole]

They're looking good! Best of luck for tonight's!