Who's Shooting Fireworks This Weekend?

Who's taking fireworks photos this weekend? I've got plans to go out with my friend Youtah tonight. We're going to shoot from a spot in the hills just north of downtown Salt Lake. I'm hoping we get fireworks with downtown SLC in the foreground and maybe even some sunset light in the background. I will post tomorrow if I get a chance to process.

If you're thinking about fireworks photos but don't know how to go about it, check out our Fireworks Photography Tips page. It's got links to fireworks photo content on this site as well as good pages on other sites. Feel free to add any good resources you've discovered in the comments at the end of the article And if you do take fireworks photos, please share them with us!

I shot some fireworks Wednesday night in Astoria and last night at the races. I should have read the tips page beforehand, but I managed to get a few good shots in here and there. Will post after this weekend of traveling and reconnecting with family!

Jenni, youtah and I went out to take pictures of Salt Lake City fireworks last night. We tried a new location in the foothills just north of downtown. We had a good view of all the fireworks shows in the valley from our spot. Unfortunately, it turned out we were a bit too high and far away to really get anything good. At least that's what I think. It turned out the real star of the evening was the sunset. It was absolutely spectacular. So even though I'm not psyched about my fireworks photos, our efforts were not wasted. Besides some epic photos of the valley and the Wasatch Mountains, I also learned a little about location so next time we have fireworks I'll fine-tune my vantage point :)

Here's some from over Lake Huron (For Canada Day!)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...e8279ef1a4.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4102/...21c12e8e55.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/...b8cfcba68c.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/...1dec671383.jpg

I shall be going later tonight as they start around 10pm pst.

Canada Day counts! I like that last one. Looks like it was shot through a prism or something :)

Well, I think the second shot looking down on the city and fireworks is pretty cool.

First time ever shooting fireworks, these are from July 3rd. Focusing and settings are the easy part, Framing the things is where it gets tricky.

F-11
Exposure- 3 Seconds
ISO- 100

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../firework1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../firework2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../firework3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../Firework4.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jay C

First time ever shooting fireworks, these are from July 3rd. Focusing and settings are the easy part, Framing the things is where it gets tricky.

F-11
Exposure- 3 Seconds
ISO- 100

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../firework1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../firework2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../firework3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../Firework4.jpg

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Jay, all are good but number two is my favorite. The added scenery and people really do make the picture more interesting, Jeff

Good morning Captain Photo John, thank you again for your help on "critiques".
I kept on reading and ended up reading the fireworks lessons.
The results don't look to me like I learned much. Here are a few I shot last night.
ALL c/c are encouraged and welcome.
I have "tampered" with these in PE'2 .

Attachment 80006

Attachment 80007
Yellow "star" is a tall highway light.
Attachment 80008

Attachment 80009

Attachment 80010

Thanks Jeff. It was a last minute event, so I really didn't have time to scope out the area and get a cool vantage point like Photo-John's. But I'm pretty happy with the shots, at 100% crop there pretty sharp, even with the XSI Kit lens.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ri/100crop.jpg

I'm with Grandpa on this, Jeff. The silhouettes in the foreground just make #2 a real stand out fireworks shot.

Well, this is my second time shooting fireworks. I had an awesome shot idea that got foiled at the last minute when the pyrotechnicians threw me a curve ball and launched from directly behind me. It was also a challenge to smuggle in my DSLR and gorillapod, a full tripod was probably out of the question given the strict security. Oh well. I came back home after the concert and fireworks display at local Shoreline Amphitheatre and tried one of my own I had in storage since last 4th. I tried a little light painting on the people to make the shot more interesting.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmourati/4763499412/" title="feature_mouratis_002 by dmourati, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4763499412_cb9f1ff4b6.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="feature_mouratis_002"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmourati/4762861125/" title="feature_mouratis_003 by dmourati, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4762861125_c71cfef5bd.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="feature_mouratis_003"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmourati/4762861315/" title="feature_mouratis_004 by dmourati, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4762861315_cce232bfc2.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="feature_mouratis_004"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmourati/4763499974/" title="feature_mouratis_005 by dmourati, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4763499974_cbee563fed.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="feature_mouratis_005"></a>

Real nice. I don't know if I've ever seen fisheye fireworks shots before. I'd imagine that's quite a challenge... :thumbsup:

One of my favorites from last night... a boy and his amazement with his sparkler

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/...3f076e4a_z.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cal_gecko

One of my favorites from last night... a boy and his amazement with his sparkler

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Welcome to the site - nice first post! I like it, too. Love that look of concentration. And it's also our first sparkler photo in this thread. I just saw a cool sparkler light painting photo on Facebook and invited that friend to post here, too :)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733884@N03/4765414162/" title="P7041484 by Billy320, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4765414162_ac19070608.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="P7041484" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733884@N03/4765414028/" title="P7041465 by Billy320, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4097/4765414028_0b75fdeb88.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="P7041465" /></a>

I shot more fireworks here in my neighborhood, but here are two shots from the fireworks Saturday night at Lebanon Valley Speedway Saturday night.

Love that first one where you used the flash, Megan. The monster truck really sets that apart from any other fireworks photo I've seen :)

My local fireworks got rained out so no picks for me. Maybe next weekend.

On a side note. A couple years ago I shot fireworks with TLR that I borrowed from a coworker. One thing that was really cool about that was that because of the 2 separate lenses, you are able to watch the fireworks on the focusing screen during the exposure. :)

Cool shots everybody. I love the boy with the sparkler cal_gecko!

I tried to take some, but I was on a boat and it wasn't quite still enough on the water. Oh well, there is always next year!

I was in the pit at a race track. But yes... redneck!

Here are a few from last night. I need to find a place to sit that has an interesting FG element to include in the images.

Fireworks at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
They were taken outside of my room on the tenth floor of the Sheraton. They aren't as spectacular as everyone's else, but I only have a Panasonic FZ7.

Thanks for sharing, Barb! It's not the camera - it's how you use it :)

You've got a great location here, with the falls and the building in the background. But you need longer exposure times for more light and longer fireworks trails. Next time you get to take fireworks pictures make sure to check the fireworks tutorial article here first and then put your camera in manual exposure mode so you can have longer shutter speeds. It will make a big difference. And you'll be able to do it with your Panasonic, no problem :)