Fireworks

[Starman800]

Hello,

I have been shooting pictures for awhile but i have just got into shooting in the Manual modes. With July 4th coming up in the next couple months. My question is this:

What is the best way to take a picture of Fireworks. I will be mostly using my 75mm-300mm lens for my Canon Xs camera

Should i shoot in full Manual mode, or one of the priority modes, and what settings should i have it set to?

Thank you?

[GeoffWessex]

Now, let's get this right....... you're asking in a British photography magazine's Forum about how to record fireworks that celebrate an unfortunate event that, if the colonials had paid their taxes to Britain, needn't have happened (That's the same British who'd been supplying troops to fight the French and their Indian allies for 30 years while the colonials were making huge profits on their plantations).

Only joking!

There are hundreds of Tutorials within this website - unfortunately, since a re-design, there's no index to look up what you want. Anyway, one of those tutorials covers fireworks........

Now, about those taxes that should have been paid.......

[Starman800]

Would you beleave if said the check is in the mail?

Sorry about the tea too.. Our Bad.

Thanks for the link, i will look at it shortly..

p.s. Umm, arn't you from Ontario, Canada?

[GeoffWessex]

Yes, Ontario..... British North America. Actually, only been here six years, having been in the UK for the previous 54 years!

Again, there are hundreds of tutorials within this website (which used to be called 'PhotoRadar') but it seems no index exists any more (it wasn't very good in the first place). But always worth using the Search box to see what comes up.

[Starman800]

Thank you very much. Was out and about today taken more pics.

[LaPistola]

Yes manual.

Shutter: Bulb
f/8.0 (ish)
ISO: 100
Lens: As wide as it will go and focus at infinity and switched to manual.

Now set the camera on a tripod with with a remote trigger (which can be locked) and point it into the sky where the fireworks are exploding.

If you have never used bulb before then when all you need know is the shutter will stay open while the trigger is pressed or locked in the pressed position.

Grab a piece of black card or something thats stuff but black and weigh down your tripod if you can.

The idea is that you place the card over the lens (trying not to knock the camera) and then you open the shutter and lock it open. When a firework explodes (you may need to practice timing) you remove the card for a second or two then place it back over the lens until the next firework exploded. After say 3-10 fireworks have exploded you close the shutter. The result will be one exposure with multiple fireworks in the shot. They look far better then just shots of single fireworks..

If you don't have or can't get a wired or wireless remote trigger that locks then you could just hold the trigger button or use a clamp, peg piece of tape etc over the remotes trigger button.

f/8.0 may not be perfect for your setup and location so testing first would be advised. When you don't wish to have multiple fireworks in one shot then still use bulb but don't bother with your black card. just press and hold the shutter when you hear the firework starting to go then release once the burst is over. If you don't have bulb or a suitable trigger then you could set the shutter say 30s and just keep the black card over the lens until the shutter closes (removing when fireworks naturally). Again if no bulb/trigger and you wish to shoot only one firework at a time then shutters of 2-8s work well however its advisable to set the shutter to 8s and use the card just encase.

If your shooting off tripod then a very fast shutter of 1/125. This depends on how close you are and the location but its a good starting point. Raise your ISO to 400 to help and you may need to bring your aperture to around f/5.0. Again this will depend on setup and location.

For the multi shots I would use a lens that can give you a focal of no less than 25mm on a crop sensor body unless your very far away. Remember you can always zoom and crop tighter at the PP stage.

Hope This Helps

[cosmicma]

fireworks tend to use a lot of sky especially at events so a wide angle lens is preferable ( 24mm or similar ) and a tripod is essential
typical settings i would use would be
8 - 9 second exposure
F8 - F11 ( F9 seems fine )
100 iso
to set focus up i would focus on the first firework manually just swinging the focus to infinity is no good because most lenses will allow you to move the focus beyond infinity ( try it for yourself and focus on the moon to see what i mean ) once iv'e gained focus i would just release the shutter when the fireworks start and keep doing so until they stop

i find if you are going to a firework display the fireworks are usually set off thick n fast so 8 or 9 second exposure is plenty
the black card method is great if not a lot of fireworks are set off at the same time allowing you to build a display up but not much use if a whole bunch are repeatedly fired off which is usual at big events

an example of fireworks using a 9 second shutter speed at f9 100 ISO at 24mm on a cropped sensor



i was around 200 - 300 yards away and would have been better off either using a wider angle lens or being another 100 yards further away so don't get too close or you will not be able to get the full display in frame

good luck...

[LaPistola]

Ill have a look at infinity focus. A lot does depend on setup and kit and with the lens I use for fireworks infinity seems perfect but Ill have a play when the moons out next.

Something else I find gets better shots with fireworks is changing your metering mode to center weighed.