Firework photos - tips please

[alex3410]

hey all not posted for ages - sorry really busy and have not had much time for photography

anyway fireworks soon so was wondering if anyone had any tips for taking photos of them as mine always come out really badly


also i want to do some more sparkler photos


but had trouble focusing last time which resulted in allot of them having to be chucked so any tips for this as well?

thanks

[Nicole]

As far as focusing goes, I usually focus as I would for a landscape... now, technically i think that's supposed to be about 1/3 of the way into the scene. I'm not sure that I follow that, but what I do know is that I focus in the same way I would for a landscape to be in focus. I use a tripod and remote. I set my camera's ISO as low as possible and set the aperture around f/16 but I adjust it based on whether it looks like things are too bright or too dark. For example, something like this:

Camera:	Nikon D50
Exposure:	1.7 sec (17/10)
Aperture:	f/16
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	400

Because it was really dark out there and there were no city lights in the background or anything I set my ISO to 400 so I could get things bright enough and still get the firework streaks. I also usually set my shutter speed to bulb and open the shutter when I hear the firework being fired and shut it after the fireworks have streaked a bit.

And if you haven't already seen it, try How to Photograph Fireworks Displays on the blog.

[alex3410]

thank you for the info and the link i had missed that one

[Hev]

I'm taking some Firework pics tonight, I actually found this forum by reading that tutorial! It was really handy so thanks to whoever wrote that!

My only worry is my camera, it's only a P&S so I'm a bit limited.

My highest aperature setting is 13.6.

There is a "fireworks" setting on it but I was gonna have a go at doing it manually so I learn but I guess that will be my back up!

Hopefully I get some good shots and I'll post on here, good luck with your firework shots!