Fireworks photos

[mjs1973]

I have seen some really incredible photos of fireworks, so I thought I would try to capture some myself last night. What I got was a bunch of crap. I tried longer, and slower shutter speeds, smaller and larger f stops, and non of them captured what I was looking for. Most of them look like stars, or spots of light on a black background, some are so bright that it looks like nothing more than a flash with some smoke... What is the secret to getting good shots of fireworks?

[opus]

I am by no means a fireworks expert, but on July 3rd I "accidentally" happened to be in the right place at the right time to try to capture, not only a fireworks show, but a lightning show, too.

I found that, once I had the settings down, some of it seemed to do with pure luck... it depended on what kind of "firework" exploded and when, relative to the shutter opening, it exploded. Same with the lightning. I got different colors depending on where the lightning strike happened in the stream of "shutter" time.

I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about. It has to do with timing in some way, but I'm not sure exactly what that timing is. I know I got a more defined lightning bolt if I captured less of it (i.e. the lightning happened just before the shutter clicked shut). Too much exposure gave me what looked like a nuclear explosion.

Here's a shot from that night. It's not a good photo, but I'm rather pleased with the timing of the explosion.

[Sebastian]

Have you tried a search here? THis issue was discussed extensively before the 4th.

Basically, f/8 or f/11, STURDY TRIPOD, and a cable release witht he shutter on bulb, lowerst ISO. Then the firework launches, open the shutter, let it explode and create trails, once it starts to fade, close the shutter.

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the advice! I should have known that this subject would have been covered, but I didn't have time to do my research.... I will know better next time.

[another view]

Mr. Moderator (congrads!) has it right but I prefer f8 at ISO100. Try anything between f5.6 and 11 at ISO100 to see what you prefer. Shutter speed isn't critical because your subject is a moving light source. With my shot here, I set up at f8, ISO 100 and figured out what my shutter speed had to be to properly expose the building. When the fireworks opened up, I started the approx 8 second exposure. If you didn't have anything like this in the shot and only the fireworks, you could try a handheld speed like 1/125 all the way to 30 seconds and see what it does. The longer the exposure, the more you get and the busier it gets. It's important to experiment to know what you like.

[Speed]

Mr. Moderator (congrads!) has it right but I prefer f8 at ISO100. Try anything between f5.6 and 11 at ISO100 to see what you prefer. Shutter speed isn't critical because your subject is a moving light source. With my shot here, I set up at f8, ISO 100 and figured out what my shutter speed had to be to properly expose the building. When the fireworks opened up, I started the approx 8 second exposure. If you didn't have anything like this in the shot and only the fireworks, you could try a handheld speed like 1/125 all the way to 30 seconds and see what it does. The longer the exposure, the more you get and the busier it gets. It's important to experiment to know what you like.

Is my preferred setup. Where I set up, I set a 4 second shutter speed, and open the shutter when I hear the canon fire. Like Another View said, experiment and see what works for you. But f8 with ISO 100 makes a great starting point.