fireworks picture

[Mack V]

http://members.cox.net/boostn/

This was my first attempt at shooting some fireworks. Any comments are greatly appreciated good or bad.

[D_A]

For a first time, very impressive, pity you missed the trails at the top of the pic. Would like to know what settings u used to get this shot, any more you could post?

[blackshadow]

Just curious but what do fireworks have to do with Performing Arts?

[samsen]

Before checking you EXIF, I guessed a 2sec shutter at f8 to 16 with ISO 100. What a surprise, it seems like 2 sec / F/11 / ISO100 / with kit lens of XT.
Nice image for the first time. I am specially happy that correctly you were on manual mode and must be off AF.
I am missing the trail too.

For anatomy of firework, remember the following;

- Motion is determined by duration of shutter. Generally speaking 4-6 sec works best (I am for 6 unless close to grand finale, that you need shorter speed)

- Darkness of sky is direct function of your F stop. F/16 dark to jet black, F/8 you can see some spectrum of gray or other color depending on reflection of last burst.

- Your ISO is set between 100-400. I use a few test shots.

- AF must be off.

- Steady tripod (Windy nights not so uncommon) and a remote release. I use both wired and wireless ones. Not much difference between the canon's original and the cheaper HK products. Actually I don't like the canons much because of ease that you go on lock bottom without notice.

- A zoom lens with low internal flair to minimize the reflections (Definitely remove the filter unless it has very good coating), yet has the power of crop as needed for various hight burst that you will encounter during the show.

BTW by looking at you image another thing I can tell you is to set your camera's time rightly. You seem to be about 14 hours ahead or real time.:)

[abrcrombe]

Cool pic and great info samsen! Thanks

[XRe]

Good first attempt, for sure :)

In my opinion, fireworks shots are helped tremendously by having something in the foreground and/or background to give them context. Unfortunately, many locations that displays are done don't really provide you with a lot of options :( So, I haven't bothered to shoot them since I got into digital. Next time out, see if you can get something else in the composition that will be more than just a fireworks burst, if you can.

As an example, there are two fireworks shots on my "About" page (http://www.daverephoto.com/about.html) - these were shot in Cincinnati, OH during their yearly Labor Day "Riverfest" event. Shot on 4x5" Vericolor III. These were shot at f/8 and were aggregate 30 second exposures, using a dark card as a shutter to edit out undesirable fireworks and to prevent various areas from becoming to busy or blocked up. Eventually, I'll get around to experimenting to get the same effect using my digital rig. But, what I wanted to demonstrate here was the context that the city skyline, bridges, the boat, etc, give the fireworks, and the composition effects that they provide.

[Mack V]

Thank you all for the comments. I wasn't sure where to post this. I updated the page to reflect three other shots (removing the original). One you can see the telephone lines in the way but I really didn't think it would turn out at all because it was my first time so I wasn't too worried about them in the way.
http://members.cox.net/boostn/

So I should have set the time to more like 4-6 seconds? What would change in the picture if I did that? I really appreciate the input.

[croslide]

Good work. Very impressive. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT is my favourite.