Shooting fireworks

[lummy]

Hey everyone
I live on a golf course and every year, the course does a fireworks show for the 4th, I thought it would be cool to get some shots of them this year. I was hoping for some pointers as to what to do and not to do. I'm planning on borrowing a tripod and either using my 50 1.4 or 70-200 2.8 using my 350d. Any suggestions on aperature and shutter speed? Also, which lens? I'm leaning towards the 50 to get a wider view since the fireworks will be almost on top of me



I'm also going to try to get a remote if they aren't insanely expensive

Thanks in advance
Gary

[basroil]

tip, unless you are far away, use the kit lens or another one with 17-18mm. second, tripod is a must, but if you place it correctly, and tripod is decently stable, you really don't need the remote, though it's good. best tip, av=f10, tv=bulb, shoot manual, iso 100. as long as you don't cross about 15-20s exposure, you should be fine. just hold down the shutter until you get the few fireworks you want (try not to shoot too many overlaps unless you want a large ball of overexposure). other thing is to shoot when you see/hear the fireworks being launched and wait until they stop glowing for a few seconds, sometimes they have secondary bursts that can look cool on the camera. if you do get the remote, put your tripod as high as possible to avoid idiots in your frame, and shoot a long expose shot before you start to know what areas you will be capturing. also, bring a lot of memory, i shot two cf cards full (1gb and half gb) in 10 min. happy hunting

[PhotoJourno]

Last night I had to shoot Fireworks for a city that has its anniversary on the 1st of July, and hence wont do fireworks on the 4th. This is ok with me, as it gives me practice before the actual Firework-fest.

Ok - Do not, locate yourself within 50-100 yards of the pyrotechnics. (why, ye ask?) Well, I got a first row seat, great for the families there, but stunk for my lenses. My Tripod had a hard time holding a camera tilted +60 degrees the whole time. Secondly, the actual fireworks were too big to fit inside the 50mm lens, and although they all blew in the same vecinity, I was close enough to catch 3/4ths of one, and 1/2 of the other. Had I been 100 yards back, I may have alliviated the problem.

Since this was a paper assignment, I quickly left the tripod aside (occasionally hitting the remote), and assembled my other body with a 19-35 lens. And I shot about 50 pics in Program mode, which resulted in far better shots.

So for the 4th, I am planning getting some decent distance from the Fireworks. I hope these do's and don'ts help you in your Firework quest.

[20DNewbie]

I've no experience as of yet with fireworks, but if you type fireworks into the search it'll come up with 8 pages of info. Just go through some and you'll find pics with info, see what you like and don't like and go from there I guess. Or just google "fireworks photography". :lol: it came up with 10.7 million pages exactly!

Good luck.

[lummy]

Cool, thanks for the replies and tips!!!

[nation]

Try and stay upwind of the fireworks so the smoke haze doesn't get between you and the fireworks.

[woman4life]

Here is an article on shooting fireworks. If I get the chance, I'll try it out.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-photograph-fireworks/