fireworks photography

Hi all,
this is the first year that I will be trying to photograph fireworks with my DSLR, so I wanted to ask for some advice.

I have read that aperture should be in the f8-16 area because the light is actually very intense.
The timing can be used with bulb mode or manual to play with timing.

What I am also interested in is the focus. Since these are relatively short events (the explosion, that is), Is it best to manually focus - starting at infinity and oging backwards - or still autofocus? I will be pretty far away from the "party" - maybe about 1-2 km - but usually we can see the fireworks pretty well.

I am not sure if I will shlep out my tripod for these this year (I have an almost 2 year old that I will also have to deal with).

Thanks for any ideas

I shot fireworks for the first time last summer. Definitely bring the tripod. I read to set the focus to infinity but I found I needed to pull it back just a little. I manually set the focus on a few explosions without shooting, then didn't touch it again. I think I used f/8 and bulb mode the entire time.

There is a huge sticky in this forum section look there

LONDON808 - damn! sorry i didn't read. Thanks for the heads up
mike_d - thanks for the help in regards to the focus issue.

For decades, I have used ISO (or ISA in the olden days) 100 and f/11 or thereabouts for my exposure settings for fireworks.

I also highly recommend use of a tripod, though I keep the adjustments somewhat loose so I can move the camera while it's on the tripod.

I aim the camera by looking over it rather than through the viewfinder, because I often lock the shutter open in "bulb" mode but keep my hand over the front of the lens while following the fireworks up from the ground. I then remove my hand to start the exposure just after stopping the camera's movement. After the exposure I take my finger off the shutter release button.

A couple of thoughts. A tripod is essential as you want longish exposures. Keep in mind that the bursts that occur while your shutter is open will accumulate so you can get more than one burst in a frame. The second thought is to frame your shots with some context. Frame them with a building, tree, lake or something that shows the bursts in context. Burst shots in the sky without a horizon, just the burst are pretty boring. This method also gives you something to focus and meter on. I prefer 3-5 second shots rather than bulb, but that works as well.

agree with gonzo. nothing more boring than a shot of just the bursts. i went to a gallery opening for a friend who actually had a fireworks shot up with nothing but bursts and it cheapened the whole display. he took it down.

Not saying these are great, but this is what foreground adds to your fireworks shots:

Macys Fireworks from the Intrepid....

5 second exposure at f22 (i would never shoot at f22 again)

Cosomo,
Exactly what I was talking about. Here is one of mine. Not perfect, but better than a plain burst.

^^^^great shot^^^^^

I am playing with long exposures and tripods and using a dark black wool pendleton cowboy style hat to cover the lens between bursts. It is fairly easy to time the thunk of the mortar to the burst of the shell and get the hat off just in time to record the burst. You can add burst upon burst and slowly get the foreground and background exposures to develop. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails majestically, but it is fun and seems to get alot of "whatca doin" conversations going to keep it interesting between shells.