How to shoot fireworks

[wenrob]

Fun shots. I love playing with lights.

You might want to also use your flash. Shoot in either manual or shutter priority on Nikon or aperture priority on Canon so that the flash will mix with the ambient light for a good combined exposure. The flash adds definition to your subject.

I have a Disney example of the technique. It's a CM playing with some lighted toys. The flash provided a relatively sharp exposure of the CM but the long exposure gave the time for the moving toys to make trails.

Rear curtain sync Mark? So the flash goes off at the end of the exposure?

OregonDaddy-Fun! I'm always meaning to try that but I'm lazy, lol! I've seen them where the people have done the light and then moved out of the frame. Very cool.

 

[ssanders79]

This is realy cool.

 

[handicap18]

Kewl shots.... I like it, especially that last one. She did a nice job. I have tried once, but I had an issue with my remote shutter. I definitely want to try this, looks like a lot of fun!!!

 

[crasher11]

Well only had one that turned out but still working on it....

 

[iluvuwdw]

Well only had one that turned out but still working on it....

That is a really cool pic

 

[crasher11]

Thank you... Thought it turned out pretty good for the first time ..

 

[Dizneemad]

Certainly looking good from where I am sitting.Excellent shot.

 

[rtphokie]

[post=32680449]A[/post]

[post=32671232]B[/post]

[post=32672179]C[/post]

[post=32607402]D[/post]

[post=32616022]E[/post]

[post=32589985]F[/post]

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[rtphokie]

Congratulations to the winners, an all Nikon top 3 this week.

first: [post=32680449]pointandshoot[/post]

Exif information:
make: NIKON CORPORATION
model: NIKON D200
shutter_speed: 1/infsec
aperture_stop: F16.0
focal_length: 25mm
iso:
flash: did not fire

second: [post=32607402]Gdad[/post]

Exif information:
make: NIKON CORPORATION
model: NIKON D700
shutter_speed: 1/infsec
aperture_stop: F9.9
focal_length: 28mm
iso:
flash: did not fire

third: [post=32616022]Suburbanmom[/post]

Exif information:
make: NIKON CORPORATION
model: NIKON D50
shutter_speed: 1/infsec
aperture_stop: F8.0
focal_length: 24mm
iso:
flash: did not fire

 

[DopeyDave]

I think all 11 finalists in this contest were winners!!
This one was REALLY tough to vote on!
Congrats to all of you.

 

[nic100308]

Does anyone happen to know the quality of picture you get for a fireworks setting on a Canon PowerShot SX1 IS. In comparison to a manual setting, do you think it is better. I know that with a manual setting you can almost always get a better shot, however time is of the essence and I'm not sure that I would be able to set it up in time to get a good shot. I guess what I am asking is how good the fireworks setting is on the SX1 IS.

 

[nic100308]

WOW, I guess no one knows about my specific camera! Okay, lets make it broader: any camera on the fireworks setting. Has anyone used it? I never had tried taking fireworks pictures before. I will have a tripod too.

 

[Frantasmic]

I have the S5. I know some people have reported purchasing your camera this year; however, I'm not sure how many people may have used it for fireworks and reported back to the board.

I think with the pre-scene settings, you are relying on the camera for everything, i.e., it's on "auto" for a pre-determined scene. If you do some manual settings, you get to select white balance, ISO, etc. that you probably don't have control over in the scene mode. If you are concerned about your timing, I'd suggest going with the scene mode.

Generally, however, you could "set" your own scene and have greater control. You don't have to change all these parameters between shots. You could set the ones you want and test a few with the viewfinder. You'd probably only really need to change the shutter speed to make sure you are getting the entire fireworks display.

 

[seashoreCM]

I'm not sure what a "fireworks" setting does and it could be different depending on the brand of camera ... but ...

For some fireworks bursts, you adjust shutter speed to choose between getting long trails versus short trails.

Some fireworks bursts have the entire trail illuminated at the same time so a short shutter open time captures most of it.

You don't want automatic metering to dim down the entire image only when there are lots of fireworks bursts occurring at the same time (any metering mode) or overexpose the fireworks because none of the bursts were in the exact center of the picture (spot metering).

It is easy to overexpose which will cause the color to become washed out or maybe changed to white.

Some fireworks notably blue bursts need more exposure.

Your camera's fireworks mode may address some of these topics, see if exposure compensation can be applied on top of this to improve the results even more.

 

[nic100308]

Thanks guys!! The whole reason I have this camera is so I can use the manual settings (as my DH says, there is no point in having the camera I have if all I'm going to do is use the presets). I'll just have to play around with it and see what I get. I'll be there 10 days so I'll have plenty of time to fool around and see what works better. I'm somewhat new to the advanced cameras and this will be my first trip to Disney with one. I've been trying to mess around with the different settings and learn more about it. We will see once December comes!

Thanks again! Have a magical day!!!

 

[JimbobJimbo]

I used to own a S5 IS and from what I remember there was a discussion a while back about what settings to use with that particular camera and I believe there were a lot of people that had pretty good success using the Sports mode.

 

[zackiedawg]

Well I shot fireworks at Disney a lot with another small-sensor superzoom, very similar to yours. In general through lots of experimentation, I found Manual mode to be best, and I generally used as a default setting, the following:

Auto white balance
ISO set to 80 or 100 (lowest setting)
Aperture to F4.5
Shutter speed of 3 to 5 seconds
Focus switched to manual after focusing the distance needed

From there, I adjust the shutter speed more or less depending on the intensity of the bursts, and after looking at the first few results on screen. If all seem underexposed even at 5 seconds, I'd adjust the aperture open a bit more; if all overexposed, I'd close it up a bit.

I had pretty decent luck with my superzoom at those settings, both for Illuminations and Wishes. Oh, and of course on a tripod.

 

[Amy]

Hi! I have the SX10 IS, which is very similar to the SX1. Here are my best photos from the 4th of July, both taken using Fireworks mode (and a tripod - the shutter is 2 secs, ISO of 80):

I also have an S3 IS, and I used to get pretty decent fireworks shots on Sports mode, like JimbobJimbo mentioned. But for some reason with the SX10, Sports mode just isn't doing it for me, not for fireworks and not for "sports" shots either. I can't figure out why; I figured it would be pretty similar since the SX10 is just an upgrade from the S3, but I'm having a hard time with this SX10 - my percentage of "keepers" is MUCH lower than with my S3.

 

[GrillMouster]

Each of the "creative modes" should do what you would expect to do in manual mode.
For example, Portrait Mode would try to use a large aperture (for shallow dept of field), low ISO, and low sharpening. Sports/Kids/Pets Modes would likely try to use a fast shutter speed to freeze motion and possibly raise the ISO (which would explain why it may not be optimal for fireworks). Fireworks Mode would try to use a slow shutter speed, a mid-small aperture, and low ISO. The results might be acceptable, so it's worth trying them for a shot or two. If you find that they're not doing exactly what you want, then switch to one of the partially automated modes with exposure compensation or got o full manual mode.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

If I can piggyback onto this thread...

My canon G9 has a fireworks setting and a tripod bush, but it doesn't have anywhere to fit a cable release of remote switch.

On my old film SLR, I would just set up on my tripod and use bulb setting and my cable release.

I suppose I could just use my two second delay, take lots of photose and hope some of them work.

How do you photograph fireworks without a cable release?

Andrew