How to take photos of fireworks

[joe.morgan]

Ok so im in france at the moment on business and im off into the local village on friday to take pictures of the fireworks

Ive got a 300D with both a 18-55 and 75-300mm lense, a vivitar (about 7 years old) flash which i dont think ill bother using a tripod.

Whats the best way for me to set the camera up to take pictures? I was thinking ISO setting 1600 and TV on 8 - no flash?

Any tips or shooting modes?

Thanks

Joe

[Radtech1]

I also use the tripod, but I have NEVER had to use an ISO higher than 100. Trust me, the flame is bright enough to leave an image without having to boost the gain. I focus for infinity and use a fairly high f/stop - the high end of the sweet spot. For my lens that puts me at f/16 or higher. Going that high also helps to keep the focus in the event the lens drifts.

As far as time goes, 8 seconds might be long, might be not long enough. It depends on what is happening in the sky. I think that this shooing opportunity is a very convincing argument for finally buying the remote cable release. That way you can decide on the fly what is in the exposure and what is not.

HERE (http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=148683) is a thread where this is discussed in detail with examples.

Rad

[Skrim17]

what does it mean when you say focus for infinity?

[joe.morgan]

Thanks for your reply, could you clear up a few things for me?

"i focus for infinity and use a fairly high f/stop"

i focus, whats this? what do the different f/stops do, what are they good for and how do you change them?

Lastly what is a remote cable release?

thanks

joe

[gjl711]

Also, unless your timing is perfect, your going to need a couple of seconds of exposure so that you capture the event. At ISO 1600, the sky tends to turn light. I agree ISO 100 is fine and you'll get great pics. Them little suckers are bright.

I found what works best is set up the tripod and camera pointing in the general area where they are going off. Manually focus. Listen for the thump of the launch and let the shutter fly. Make a few adjustments and do it all again. Try some zoomed, try some wide, take a lot of pics. Some will work, many will not.

[Radtech1]

Thanks for your reply, could you clear up a few things for me?

"i focus for infinity and use a fairly high f/stop"

i focus, whats this? what do the different f/stops do, what are they good for and how do you change them?

Lastly what is a remote cable release?

thanks

joe


FIRST) THIS (http://www.tiefpreisshop.at/images/canon/28-135.jpg) is a lens focused for infinity. See that the focus is not set for a numbered distance (that is, not for 3 feet, or 5 meters) but rather it is set to the Infinity symbol. ∞. Put in more simple terms, when you focus at infinity, that means you are focusing at "far away", which is where the fireworks will be.

SECOND) A high f/stop has a deeper depth of focus. Things both close and far will be in focus. This is the most forgiving setting when you are not able to focus through the lens.

THIRD) THIS (http://www.samys.com/product_detail.php?item=1506) is the cable release for the 300. It allows you to open and close the shutter without using the shutter button on the camera.

Rad

[joe.morgan]

Ok so i will have it on a tripod pointing to the area that looks like where the fireworks are going to be going off. when you say manual focus i take it you mean manual focus to the sky?

whats the best setting to have it on, im guessing TV? and range my times from say 8-15 seconds?

Also i have this remote control for the camera but i dont have a clue how it works as i didn't get a manual for it.

here is an image of it, if anyone can let me know what it is that would be great and if you can tell me what all the buttons work and how to get it working to take photos at the touch of a button that would be even bettter

thanks

joe

http://www.photography-blue22.co.uk/downloads/remote.jpg

Has 4 Rows with the following buttons:

P: S, W/T
N: S (d70/8800/8400/f75/f65/f55 litetouch)
C: (two subsections)
DSLR/SLR/P&S: S---2S
Digital G/S/Pro: S------W
\-----T
M: S, 2S

[Skrim17]

Thanks Rad.

[PhotoGeek]

These were taken with the 20D and 17-40mm f4l. ISO was 100. Shutter about 3 sec. and f11 if I recall correctly. Focus on infinity. Camera on a tripod. No remote release.

If you use too long of a shutter, you get "too much" and the image washes out. If too short, the light trails are not captured. It's all about trial and error.

[gjl711]

Ok so i will have it on a tripod pointing to the area that looks like where the fireworks are going to be going off. when you say manual focus i take it you mean manual focus to the sky?
Depends on how close your going to be and how high up they are going to go. This summer when I took some fireworks pics I was very close and they were going off low. I focused on the launch tubes as they were about all I could see clearly. They came up sharp. If they are far away, focus to infinity as an earlier poster said.

whats the best setting to have it on, im guessing TV? and range my times from say 8-15 seconds?
This is where your going to want to experiment and get creative. Shorter shutter times will get you much short trails and the pic will be less cluttered. Longer times will give you long trails and depending on the frequency of the firework, you could get many explosions layered on top of one another.

Also i have this remote control for the camera but i dont have a clue how it works as i didn't get a manual for it.
......
Look in the camera manual. It plugs into the body and just press as you would the shutter. In a pinch, you can set the shutter a second longer, place you hand in front of the lens without touching it, press the shutter and move your hand. All it does is gives the camera just a sec to stop shaking and will render a sharper picture.

[tim]

I've described how I do this half a dozen times, search will find them.

[joe.morgan]

its an infra red remote control, the 300d manual just says set it to a certain mode, set camera up and then rest is done with the remote, however i dont know what all the buttons on the remote do

[StewartR]

Joe, I don't want to be rude, but you're not making it easy for us to help you. Nobody can tell you what the buttons on your remote control do, unless you tell us what make/model of remote you've got. If you don't know, use Google to look for pictures of canon infrared remote control or something like that until you find the model you've got. Then somebody here who knows how that particular remote works can help you.

[joe.morgan]

no offence taken :) i have tried searching for it an had no such luck but i have just managed to find one by pure luck on ebay and found a manual for it, so ill have to read and see if i can get it workin :)

[PhotosGuy]

Firebirds! On shooting fireworks... (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=189490)

Shooting Fireworks.... (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=184491)

[Orogeny]

Ive got a 300D with both a 18-55 and 75-300mm lense, a vivitar (about 7 years old) flash which i dont think ill bother using a tripod.

Whats the best way for me to set the camera up to take pictures? I was thinking ISO setting 1600 and TV on 8 - no flash?

Here are 2 with the 300D, 18-55 and tripod, 4 sec, f/11, ISO 100:

http://www.pbase.com/orogeny/image/45730206.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/orogeny/image/45730212.jpg

My trick is to focus on something distant, change the lens to manual focus and set the camera itself to M to set the f-stop and shutter. The remote helps greatly, otherwise you are best off using the timer.

Tim