How to shoot fireworks

[Suburbanmom]

Very nice! Is this really your first time?

 

[pgowder]

Very nice! Is this really your first time?

Yep! I did a few test shots on our first day here. But last night was my first time actually going through all the effort to get them.

 

[LostRosetta]

Well, the title pretty much says it all. Is there a particular point and shoot anyone can recommend that excels in night photography and firework photos? The price is not so much a barrier, but ease of use somewhat is.

I borrowed a friend's dSLR for a period of time, but I just cannot see myself dealing with the bulk and lenses on a constant basis, hence my desire for a point and shoot.

I've been looking through many photography magazines, but unfortunately have not come across many that specifically list cameras great for night and fireworks.

Any help would be great! Thank you!

 

[LostRosetta]

Sorry, I forgot to add that if you have any examples of shots taken with said camera, if you post or link them too that would be awesome.

 

[klmall]

I haven't taken fireworks pics at WDW but did so at summer camp last July. I couldn't get from ground to sky pictures because I was too close to the fireworks but here are a few pics:

I loved this point and shoot which I recently replaced when it broke with a Canon dSLR. The G9 is a wonderful camera with a fireworks setting used to take the pictures shown above.

 

[VVFF]

The best firework and night photography point and shoot is the one that's located on a tripod.

 

[LostRosetta]

I loved this point and shoot which I recently replaced when it broke with a Canon dSLR. The G10 is a wonderful camera with a fireworks setting used to take the pictures shown above.

Hmm, that is definitely one to consider. I had never even looked into the G10. Thanks for the input!

The best firework and night photography point and shoot is the one that's located on a tripod.

I actually do not mind using a tripod or something to keep the camera steady. But you know how even with a stable level, some cameras are just not capably of taking firework and night shots? I have this problem with my extremely old Canon point and shoot.

 

[Todd_H]

Hmm, that is definitely one to consider. I had never even looked into the G10. Thanks for the input!

The G10 is actually a bridge camera which is between a p&s and a dslr. It has manual controls, so you will be able to get some very nice fireworks shots if you place it on a tripod (and it will definitely give you more creative control over your photos in general). That being said, you can still get some nice fireworks shots out of many p&s cameras currently on the market.

I actually do not mind using a tripod or something to keep the camera steady. But you know how even with a stable level, some cameras are just not capably of taking firework and night shots? I have this problem with my extremely old Canon point and shoot.

Your old Canon likely did not have image stabilization. These shots were taken with my Canon SD-850IS, which is a p&s. These were taken handheld using the fireworks setting and spot metering:

In the bottom photo, you can see the fireworks trails curve a bit, which is the result of me not being able to hold the camera steady enough, even with IS turned on (this is why the tripod is necessary for the best fw shots)

and these were taken in low light

A little grainy, but not too bad for a p&s

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

How about the New Canon SX20is. Has 2 night modes, image stabilizing and a fireworks setting and will also take 720p movies. I haven't had the opportunity to take any firework shots yet I have only had it a week. One cool thing is after the picture is taken you can do some post processing in the camera.

Here is a night shot taken through the windshield of the car last night. (night snap shot mode/flash off & hand held)

Here is a shot of some flowers taken at a friends house. (vivid mode)

These images are straight from the camera (no post processing)

 

[VVFF]

Hmm, that is definitely one to consider. I had never even looked into the G10. Thanks for the input!



I actually do not mind using a tripod or something to keep the camera steady. But you know how even with a stable level, some cameras are just not capably of taking firework and night shots? I have this problem with my extremely old Canon point and shoot.

Just make sure your camera has manual mode and you'll be ok for any firework shot on a tripod. That way you can tell the camera exactly how long to stay open for to get the entire firework in.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It's not obvious, but shooting fireworks and nighttime shooting are quite different. Fireworks are pretty bright. Any camera can take good fireworks shots provided that it can be put on a tripod and that you can control the shutter for longer exposures (bulb mode and a remote release is best, but being able to set it for manual exposure with 2-4 second exposures will work).

Shooting things other than fireworks are night is much harder. The problem is that there is so little light for the sensor to work with. On-camera flash often makes things worse because the light from a tiny light source (however bright) coming from right next to the lens is not a very good looking way to light a subject. Some point and shoot cameras do better than others, but there is no substitute for a bigger sensor when it comes to low light performance.

Don't expect to much in terms of night shooting with a standard p&s - the laws of physics are harsh. There are some small cameras and point and shoots that use larger sensors. If nighttime shooting is extremely important to you and you absolutely don't want a DSLR, I would look at those non-standard p&s cameras with larger sensors.

 

[ukcatfan]

How about the Sigma DP2? It is compact and has a DSLR size sensor.

 

[GrillMouster]

As I started reading this thread and the following posts I had an idea of what I was going to post, then Mark went ahead and did it for me. He's 100% right. Don't confuse fireworks photography with traditional "low light" or night photography. If you make that mistake one of two things are likely to happen: 1) your shots will lack the nice long light trails that are the hallmark of good fireworks photography, or 2) you will overexpose the fireworks, losing their color and reducing them to specular blown-out highlights. Fireworks photgraphy comes down to technique, not equipment. You can get good fireworks shots with just about any point-and-shoot. It can help if the camera has manual mode.

Low-light photography, on the other hand, will be much more affected by the camera's strengths and limitations. In low-light photography it can be helpful for the camera to have high ISO capabilities. Point-and-shoots tend to be noisy at anything over 400 ISO. Some PnS that have lower noise at ISO 800, but that's the result of in-camera noise reduction software that also causes the image to lose fine detail. If your subject is still you can get around this PnS limitation by using a low shutter speed (and stabilize the camera) and/or a large aperture and/or add light to the scene (flash, lamp, etc).

In the end, ask yourself just how much low-light photography you expect to do. If it's not that much, and you can live with the results, a PnS will be fine. It's better to have a PnS that you actually carry around and use rather than a DSLR that always stays in its bag at home.

 

[seashoreCM]

The correct exposure for a particular "firework" is the same whether it is the only one in the sky or is during the grand finale. Whereas most automatic cameras re-adjust the exposure for the overall scene lighting for each shot. This is where manual exposure helps.

While "exposure compensation" lets you add additional lightening or darkening over and above what the automatic camera set for you, I can't adjust my EC fast enough for the changing sky during a fireworks show.

Add to that the fact that different individual fireworks have different optimum exposures, so the whole game of shooting fireworks is going to have a large luck factor.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

 

[NateNLogansDad]

I threw out about 90% of the pictures I took the other night but I thought these weren't too bad. Please be harsh. What would you do different? I want to learn from my mistakes. All were right from the camera and no PP. Thank you!

 

[seashoreCM]

I would have used less exposure, either with a smaller aperture (shutter speed unchanged) using a manual camera, or minusing the exposure compenstion using an automatic camera.

This would give more vivid colors.

Still there is a lot of trial and error involved with automatic cameras. The fewer fireworks in the view, the larger the aperture and this may result in washed out color.

For fireworks, shutter speed selection is for artistic reasons, a quicker shutter for shorter trails versus a longer shutter open time for longer trails.

 

[annnewjerz]

What kind of tripod (if any) did you use? It looks like in some of them, there's a little bit of blur---maybe from the camera being on an unstable surface.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Could you share what setup you used and the setting for the photos?

 

[NateNLogansDad]

I would have used less exposure, either with a smaller aperture (shutter speed unchanged) using a manual camera, or minusing the exposure compenstion using an automatic camera.

This would give more vivid colors.

Still there is a lot of trial and error involved with automatic cameras. The fewer fireworks in the view, the larger the aperture and this may result in washed out color.

For fireworks, shutter speed selection is for artistic reasons, a quicker shutter for shorter trails versus a longer shutter open time for longer trails.

These are the things I need to hear! Thank you! It's weird, I can look at someone else's picture and point out what probably should have been done differently. However, when I look at my own I'm totally clueless Anything else, my ears are open.

What kind of tripod (if any) did you use? It looks like in some of them, there's a little bit of blur---maybe from the camera being on an unstable surface.

I have the feeling my pictures will be sub-par in the novice class for quite some time. The tripod was a gorillapod, set on a picnic table, sat on by my 3&5 year old as they made friends with other kids and invited them to sit with us. This is pretty much how my "photography sessions" are. In my TR I took pictures of Spectro while holding both boys over the crowds Welcome to my world

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Nikon D5000 18-55mm on a gorillapod with a remote release. Some were taken on Infinite Setting, Some Manual, Some shutter I don't think I did any in A. But, the shake can be explained by my PP