Fireworks from Tonite

[BBJ]

Hi All , well it's that time of year again i get a whole 5mins worth of time to try get some pics of the fireworks, anyhow here is some i did.
Focus set in infinity, Kit lens F8 and between 5 10 sec exp. I took these from outside showgrounds.







Ok i left the tree and some of smoke, these are as shot, no pp, think it adds to the pics.

[Alpha_7]

BBJ - I've never shot fireworks before, how did you find it ?

Were you using a remote to release the shutter ? if so where you trying to fire it "pre-emptively" so before it goes off, or as it goes off ?
I'm guessing good timing can really bring out some good shots.

[BBJ]

Graig, i didn't use remote, too slack but set tripod up and well i tried to get it as i heard the Boom i would hit the shutter. But yeh it is hard when they dont go for long and being where i was, also trying to avoid all the bright lights around as had 2 big flud lights beind the tree from the rides in the back ground and a timber mill the other side.

[wendellt]

John something different from you, fireworks are hard to capture as the light is ever changing sometimes you don't know how long an exposure you should set to get an optimal image, I had a brief stint at fireworks and i couldn't get it right, I set it to 8 seconds f11 too long of an expsoure, what settings did you use?

[Sheetshooter]

In playing and learning about my new DSLR habit I have been wondering about Fireworks technique. With film I would select an aperture relative to the speed of the emulsion in use and open the shutter for a long time but hold a dark-slide or some other black shield over the lens between bursts to prevent static lights in the scene from over-exposing excesssively.

At times that meant that the shutter itself might be open for up to 20 or 30 seconds because I might not want to get too many bursts in the same region and have to sit a couple out - so to speak.

Now, with the DSLR and long exposure noise-reduction, this can lead to pretty slow working - in fact I could easily see an argument for shooting with two bodies so as not to miss too many of the fireworks in the usually short performance.

How are other coping with this?

I am also dreading doing some cinema interiors where exposures can range up to 20 or 30 MINUTES frequently.

We live and learn ....

[Oneputt]

I think that shooting fireworks is a lot like shooting lightning, a lot of exposures with only a few keepers. Trying to anticipate things is almost a waste of time.

Theses are pretty good BBJ in particular I like No 4. Much better than my first efforts. The longer the shows go on the more smoke there usually is which either adds or detracts from the final image, depending on your point of view. I reckon that I would be pretty happy with these.

[birddog114]

BBJ - I've never shot fireworks before, how did you find it ?

Were you using a remote to release the shutter ? if so where you trying to fire it "pre-emptively" so before it goes off, or as it goes off ?
I'm guessing good timing can really bring out some good shots.

Craig,
Baic requirements are:
- No remote needed but it's essential if you have one.
- Sturdy tripod and head, coz there's chance of windy.
- Be at the site early or have your vantage points planned
- Kit lens will do the job well.
- We had few threads talking about this shooting pre- Xmas 04 and New Year 05.

[Alpha_7]

Thanks Birddog,

Last NYE we were out on the deck (Jones Bay wharf) had a good but not great outlook on the bridge, balmain and even darling harbour fireworks.. but we DIDN'T take a camera (before D70 days).

Sturdy tripod and head are top of my Xmas list, I'd love a remote too..
I guess the other key ingredient is practice practice practice...

[BBJ]

Ok yes it is hard when you only get about 5 mins worth here, nearly over before it starts. There was a lot of smoke the breeze had changed and also i had a timber mill to 1 side of me with the smoke blowing over as well. I was set up outside the grounds on a railway track made sure i had a tree blocking as much as the lights from the show grounds/Highway/Mill all working against me.

I set the camera to manual focus to infinity at F8, i went for 5sec exposure and did try a few 10 sec, 3 etc... then it was all over so it was something different and well we dont have display's down here like they do in capitol cities.

[KerryPierce]

Looks like you caught a couple real good ones, John.

[BBJ]

Well ok for the time i had Kerry, thanks mate. I wish i could get loose somewhere where they go for like ages.LOL Give you time to play with things.

[avkomp]

A technique I saw some pros using ages ago in the film days is as follows:

you use slow iso film because the actual firework bursts are fairly bright.
This avoids capturing the smoke also.

now you set a fairly long exposure which would normally be over the top
BUT
you get a dark card and cover the lens between bursts.
The art is in moving the card away from the lens and capturing a few bursts.
This way you are able to get a few busts in one exposure where otherwise you would get overexposure.

Steve

[lejazzcat]

You can also use a ND grad(1-2 stops) to help balance the brighter burst - to darker ground ratio.
Usually adding some architctural feature adds interest to fireworks shots.
Nice work BBJ

[PiroStitch]

Looks like it was a windy night The last time I tried to shoot fireworks, i just mounted the cam on a tripod and opened the shutter for 20-30s and let the lights speak for themselves.

[BBJ]

Thanks,jezz and piro, i had done this once before with my fuji and ment to take my hat as last time i did hold my hat over the lens, but forgot, anyhow it's ok gave me something to do for an hour, after processing 300+ go karts pics.