Estimate the firecracker

[Gohan]

I know this one is absolutely not good, but unfortunately this is the best I could make with my HP 735. How do you make fireworks photos?

What settings do you people use? How to catch the moment if my camera needs 5s to focus? ???

[mtb'n ski]

long exposure times, you dont have to stop the action... in fact fireworks look better usually if you hold the shutter open for a long time and get a couple of explosions. Use a "b" setting if you have it... then you dont have to do as much guess work on when to press the shutter as you would with a set shutter speed

[walterick]

I'll second what mtb'n'ski said. There's two ways normally to shoot fireworks: long exposure capturing multiple bursts, or a series of multiple exposures on one frame. The easiest way is the first, just set your camera to "bulb" or your longest exposure - usually 30 seconds or so. If your camera has trouble focusing, try manually focusing or pre-focusing on something distant (trees, buildings) If your camera has a variable aperature, try shooting around f11 on iso 100. Know where the firewoeks are going to go off, and use a tripod.

Good luck!

Rick

[Gohan]

Thanks you both for the help, and I understood that shooting fireworks is not for me

Firstly, there are no chances to know where the firework will appear, secondly, my camera really doesn't have such long exposure times. As far as I know only semi-professional cameras have these settings. So I come to a conclussion that no people owning portable and pocketable cameras are able to shoot fireworks ?

[mtb'n ski]

i dont know about your specific camera but most digitals have some sort a manual exposure ability and if you dont have that then look for a scene assist called night scenery or something similar... it will have a fairly long exposure time

[Aaron]

i dont know about your specific camera but most digitals have some sort a manual exposure ability and if you dont have that then look for a scene assist called night scenery or something similar... it will have a fairly long exposure time

Here is an example using a Fuji Finepix 3800, set for a "Night Scenic" shot, which allows a long exposure - it was set up on a tripod with the lense set for wide angle. As this was a professional type fireworks, many of them would explode in close to the same position, I could hear the shells being fired from the ground and gave a countdown to pushing the shutter switch on the Fuji. The settings on the camera wound up being f/2.8 at 3 seconds, ISO 100 --- 3.2 megapixiel -- 2048x1536 -- then cropped.

[Chunk]

Thanks you both for the help, and I understood that shooting fireworks is not for me

Firstly, there are no chances to know where the firework will appear, secondly, my camera really doesn't have such long exposure times. As far as I know only semi-professional cameras have these settings. So I come to a conclussion that no people owning portable and pocketable cameras are able to shoot fireworks ?

You are right, it would be hard to get good shots with your camera. I took a look at the specs for your camera on Steve's Digicam site and it lacks both a manual focus and shutter speeds longer than 1/3 sec, both of which would be adventageous to shooting fireworks. Other consumer cameras do have those features. The review doesn't say if the camera prefocuses if you depress the shutter button halfway. If it does, you can do that, focusing on something distant and wait until one is about to burst before pushing it all the way down. Use a tripod since the shutter speeds will be slow.

Here's one taken with a Canon S30 point and shoot camera with about a 4 second exposure and focused on infinity. There are a couple more fireworks shots in my gallery in which I incorporated some camera movement.
http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=234606

[gahspidy]

Some good advice given here, and Chunk going the extra mile in checking out the specs on your camera. If there is no parting with your current camera, then Chunks suggestion of pre focusing on an object in the distance by pressing shutter halfway ( I think practically all point and shoot digicams do that) and snap as soon as you see the bursts in your viewfinder. That will reduce the lag time you experience with that camera.

[SmartWombat]

If you look hard, you can see the tumbling spark of the burning fuse on the mortar shell as it rises.
The lifting charge is fired just after the time fuse, so by the time the shell leaves the muzzle it's counting down to detonation.
You can see the power train fuse in Chunk's photo. Some are deliberately packed with coloured chemicals to show up, I think Chunk's is a palm shell - which is meant to show an orange flare as it spins on the way up, giving the impression of the trunk of the palm tree.

If you look carefully at the bottom of the photo, I think that's the muzzle flash of the mortar tube at the bottom. Or if it's electrically fired it could be the pyro igniter on the mortar rack.


I found the best way with a camera with long exposure (5 seconds or more, right up to "B") is to look for the flash as it launches. Fire the shutter then, and release (if you have "B") after the shell explodes.
Typically a small (3") shell takes 3 seconds from launch, larger shells go higher and take longer - usually around 5 seconds. So you'd need 5-10 seconds if you do it that way.

Alternatively you use a 3-5 second exposure and aim in the sky where the shells burst.
That's harder, unless you know the display pattern.

If you want a photographic challenge, try the world fireworks championship: http://www.fioridifuoco.it/index_e.htm
Yes, fireworks are another interest of mine

[Gohan]

Thank you all for the comments. To summarize this subject, there are two ways to shoot fireworks: long exposure with a tripod or just catching them with point and shoot camera (if you are lucky, you will catch one out of ten ). So far I have been chosen the second way, and yes, my cam has shutter halfway, but the problem is how to "tell" camera what distance to the firecracker is... Plus, it is very difficult to press the button at the exact moment when the fire appears. It is not always good to press it as soon as it appears - my second photo depicts that... In general, the best solution is long exposure, but maybe when I'll buy new camera

Thanks one more time, I've really got some useful experience