How to shoot fireworks

[SharonLowe]

Before it gets too busy, scope out your location; make sure no obstructions are in your way; make sure you have something of interest in the foreground. And, of course, check the wind since you don't want all the smoke filling your photo.

1. Use a tripod. **Watch your horizon** Tilted horizons/castles do not make for appealing photographs! Also decide on horizontal or vertical - vertical gives the most pleasing image usually but when fireworks are spread out, a horizontal format might work better.

2. If digital, use your lowest ISO; if film, Tungsten 64 is the most recommended type for night/fireworks - gives a cooler color so your sky won't be muddy brown. Setting your white balance to tungsten or something similar is also a good idea.

3. Set your focus manually and leave it there.

4. Use a remote if possible.

5. Use bulb or if not available, at least set your mode to manual.

6. Apertures of f/8 to f/16 are typically the best if shooting ISO 100.

7. Don't go for overly long exposures - they will blow out your highlights and the fireworks won't be crisp. If using bulb mode, open the shutter before the burst to get some light on the subject (take a meter reading off Cindy's castle for example to find out how long to keep it open for good light on it) and then keep the shutter open long enough for one burst. If you want to have multiple bursts, the best way to do it is to bring a peice of black foam core or black felt. Open the shutter and then cover it between bursts with the foam/felt. If using manual mode, experiment with exposures of 1 to 4 seconds.

8. Go for the fireworks in the beginning of the show - toward the end, you will mostly get smoke.

Trick for post processing to reduce noise if you choose a higher ISO. Shoot a totally black frame (eg., one with your lens cap on). In PS, drag the black frame over your background image of the fireworks to create a new layer. Set the mode to "difference" and you will see a big reduction in the noise.

Another trick for a good exposure on the foreground object is to take a photo of it without any fireworks. Then, you can blend in that good exposure with your fireworks exposure if you foreground subject is too dark in the fireworks shot.

 

[nbodyhome]

1. **Watch your horizon**

That is my very worst fault, I think. I just started taking up photography last year (after a number of years away for the most part). It's getting better, but sometimes I have to line something up at the bottom of my photo, because I have camera-lean!

 

[SharonLowe]

That is my very worst fault, I think. I just started taking up photography last year (after a number of years away for the most part). It's getting better, but sometimes I have to line something up at the bottom of my photo, because I have camera-lean!

If your tripod doesn't have built in levels, they sell a bubble level that fits into your hot shoe slot on an SLR (or DSLR). A bit pricey but worth it in my oppinion.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

If your tripod doesn't have built in levels, they sell a bubble level that fits into your hot shoe slot on an SLR (or DSLR). A bit pricey but worth it in my oppinion.

I have a leveling base on my tripod and I use a hot shoe level. With a ballhead, having the base level doesn't indicate that the camera itself is level.

 

[nbodyhome]

If your tripod doesn't have built in levels, they sell a bubble level that fits into your hot shoe slot on an SLR (or DSLR). A bit pricey but worth it in my oppinion.

I have a tripod now (an okay one), but for daylight shots too - especially when a walkway has patterns, it can take me a while to get a shot right! I am getting better, but the farther away something is, the harder it is for me.

 

[steery1]

Just wondering how to cope with crowds when shooting the Wishes show.
Ill be there in July and the crowds will be real heavy. Ill have a tripod but am concerned about people knocking into it and ruining my shots or worse.
Any suggestions?

 

[handicap18]

Here are my rule's of thumb for what I've done for photographing Wishes.

For tripod shots (doesn't matter if you have a dSLR or PnS, settings are going to pretty much be the same). I brought with me a travel tripod that when closed is about 13.5 inches tall and when fully entended is about 42 inchs.

I took pics on 2 seperate nights. First night I got myself a spot just in front of the Walt/Mickey Statue. Problem with this area is that 99% of the people are sitting and since you are close you have to angle the camera which puts the LCD monitor facing the ground, not really a great angle for reviewing.

I first focused on the castle then switched to manual focus so each time I would release the shutter it wouldn't try to refocus. Problems I ran into this night was 1 guy decided that even though everyone around him was sitting, he would stand. He just so happened to be just in front of me to my right. GRRRR So I had to re configure the camera from landscape to portrait and that threw me all off.

The horizon got tilted, the focus got thrown off I had the wrong focal lenth. Just a mess.

I made a few adjustments and got some better shots, but they were still slighty out of focus:

All were pretty much shot with the same settings. Manual mode: ISO 200, 4 seconds f/8

Since I was very disappointed in what I got I decided I would go back the next night.....

 

[handicap18]

The next night I wanted to get a good spot. Wishes was scheduled for 10pm so about 7:45 I started scouting out locations in the area between Casey's and the hub. I ended up with a trashcan right next to the information board. Since Spectro was 9, there were already a few other people getting thier spots.

I set my tripod up on top of the trashcan, opened but not extended at all. Ended up being a great height for me (also gutta love that Dinsey provided trashcans with flat tops!!).

The only thing I did wrong this night was not check my ISO. I should have had it on 200, but because of some other pics I was taking before this I had it on 800. With my camera this didn't turn out to be bad. Thankfully.

I was able to get the horizon checked, the focal length I wanted, just about no obstructions from other people. Things worked out excellent for me on this night.

My standard settings were: Manual mode, f10, 3-6 seconds. (again can be the same for dSLR's and PnS camera's)

I think this night I would check my focus every now and then. Always focusing on the castle.

These are my 2 favorites:

 

[steery1]

The next night I wanted to get a good spot. Wishes was scheduled for 10pm so about 7:45 I started scouting out locations in the area between Casey's and the hub. I ended up with a trashcan right next to the information board. Since Spectro was 9, there were already a few other people getting thier spots.

I set my tripod up on top of the trashcan, opened but not extended at all. Ended up being a great height for me (also gutta love that Dinsey provided trashcans with flat tops!!).

The only thing I did wrong this night was not check my ISO. I should have had it on 200, but because of some other pics I was taking before this I had it on 800. With my camera this didn't turn out to be bad. Thankfully.

I was able to get the horizon checked, the focal length I wanted, just about no obstructions from other people. Things worked out excellent for me on this night.

My standard settings were: Manual mode, f10, 3-6 seconds. (again can be the same for dSLR's and PnS camera's)

Some good tips there and photos turned out great.
What lens did you use for the trashcan location?

 

[handicap18]

One particular tip I got (don't recall where) was to listen for when they actually fire off the rocket for the fireworks. It makes a loud PPPFFFFFTTT sound. Usually within a second or two the burst comes. When you hear the PPPPPFFFFFFTTT wait a second then release your shutter (this is for when your using a tripod).

Another tip. Don't stop shooting. I read in an article that says to keep taking pictures till the end. If you wait for the perfect shot it wont come.

What I would do differently... I think I will use the "BULB" setting. With this setting (for dSLR's most PnS don't have this option), you have a bit more control of the shot. You can get the extra big burst by letting the shutter stay open for that extra second when you need it. Though I wouldn't go much past 10 seconds.

Also since the finalle has SOOOO much light because of all the rockets and bursts and what not going off, I think that changing the aperture from f/8 or f/10 to f/22 might help. I've seen a few pictures of what looks to be a finalle shot and had f/22 as the aperture at 5 seconds. I was surprised at how well it came out. Not overexposed at all. Some will say that using an aperture that small is not a good idea because of sharpness and all that. We'll if its there use it. Its not always about getting the sharpest picture every single time. I'd rather have a nicely exposed image that is relatively sharp, than not getting an image at all.

Since I'm not big on doing post processing stuff, I like to try using a black piece of paper with a long exposure 12-15 seconds. What I would do is open the shutter for the first burst, then when it ends block the front of the lens with the black paper and when the next burst comes remove the paper. Being careful of course not to touch the lens, but getting as close as possible. The same effect can be done by combining 2 images on the computer, but like I said, PP isn't my favorite thing to do so I'll try it in camera. Maybe that will be an experiment over the 4th of July.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It might be a good idea, when planning to shoot in bulb mode especially, to take a good, well exposed shot of the castle shortly before the fireworks. Then, if you get a shot with good fireworks and an over/under exposed castle, you can just copy your well exposed castle on it. Sort of like doing an HDR thing. Of course, this'll work best with a tripod.

 

[boBQuincy]

Disney is even nice enough to give us fireworks in the daytime, so we don't have to worry about tripods, trashcans, and focus issues!
This was taken late afternoon in February.

 

[AndrewWG]

Disney is even nice enough to give us fireworks in the daytime, so we don't have to worry about tripods, trashcans, and focus issues!
This was taken late afternoon in February.

Bob, very nice shot! When are the daytime fireworks?

Now if Disney would only be nice enough to allow you into the park alone and take those shots, huh? Who knows? It is a YOAMD, right? Maybe I'll win that dream in Nov.......

Andy

 

[Groucho]

One other thing I forgot to mention - I think it's a nice thing to temporarily turn off the automatic LCD review after it takes a photo. Once you're set with your tripod, bulb mode, and remote shutter release, you'll be firing off a ton of photos. There's no point in having your LCD flashing at you over and over, and it's one less LCD screen to annoy other people with. If you want to check a shot during the shot, go into review mode manually.

I'll probably also use the viewfinder cover next time to make sure that no light gets in that way.

 

[steery1]

When are the daytime fireworks?

They let off some fireworks at the Cinderellabration show during the day.
Its on at various times, Im not sure exactly.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Since everyone else has talked about Wishes, I will post a few of Illuminations at Epcot. I found the biggest challenge with Illuminations is to pick a shutter speed that is slow enough to show nice trails on the fireworks, but not too slow as to get blurring of the earth moving.

I found that f8, ISO 200 and 1 second shutter seemed to work OK for the most part. This was my first try at Illuminations. I thought the results weren't bad.

 

[boBQuincy]

Bob, very nice shot! When are the daytime fireworks?

Now if Disney would only be nice enough to allow you into the park alone and take those shots, huh? Who knows? It is a YOAMD, right? Maybe I'll win that dream in Nov.......

Andy

This was the current "Dream Along With Mickey" show but most of the shows at Cindy's Castle have had fireworks. This may work best in the Winter when it is almost dusk for the later shows. By 5:40 in early February the light levels were way down from full sunlight.

I don't generally go to WDW in the Summer and am not sure if any of the shows are late enough to be near dusk.

 

[boBQuincy]

Since everyone else has talked about Wishes, I will post a few of Illuminations at Epcot. I found the biggest challenge with Illuminations is to pick a shutter speed that is slow enough to show nice trails on the fireworks, but not too slow as to get blurring of the earth moving.

I found that f8, ISO 200 and 1 second shutter seemed to work OK for the most part. This was my first try at Illuminations. I thought the results weren't bad.

I tried some similar settings but I am not ashamed to "patch in" an Earth Globe from another image if the long exposure was blurred.

If these "weren't bad" I would love to see what you consider "really good"!!! These are very good in my book.

 

[Steve's Girl]

I tried some similar settings but I am not ashamed to "patch in" an Earth Globe from another image if the long exposure was blurred.

If these "weren't bad" I would love to see what you consider "really good"!!! These are very good in my book.

I have zero editing skills. So, if I don't get it right the first time, I am out of luck!

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Groucho]

Yes, those are definitely good Illuminations photos. We ended up (both times) on the wrong side to get anywhere close to the globe so I generally didn't worry about it.

One thing that's hard is getting shots of the Inferno Barge - it's just so bright that it blows out very easily.

This was one of my favorite globe shots but it's not really a fireworks shot.

This shot is pretty underexposed but I like the sheer quantity of fireworks going off in it... like little twinkling stars.