How to shoot fireworks

[stitch1986]

I was wondering did u use a tripod for this?

 

[VVFF]

I was wondering did u use a tripod for this?

With an exposure time of 30 seconds he either did...or has the best internal human "Image stabilizing" system ever!

 

[alan]

They look great - love 'em!

regards,
/alan

 

[Frantasmic]

First one is my fav. I like your orientation with the castle off-center. It works.

 

[GvilleDisneyDad]

I'm no expert. but I'd say they look pretty darn nice. Do you know what the ISO was set at?

I tried some @ 200 and some @ 400.

I was wondering did u use a tripod for this?

yes!

 

[mom2rtk]

What was your aperture setting?

 

[MICKEY88]

With an exposure time of 30 seconds he either did...or has the best internal human "Image stabilizing" system ever!

 

[stitch1986]

With an exposure time of 30 seconds he either did...or has the best internal human "Image stabilizing" system ever!

haha oh ok cause I got my tripod and i tried doing stuff at night and I dont see a difference just yet but it could be cause there isnt much light possibly? so I have to go somewhere withmore lighting, and also do ppl like at yea weird when you bust out the tripod?? just curious first time I am bringing one and would I have trouble carrying it on the plane or no?

And I also love your pictures!!!

 

[VVFF]

haha oh ok cause I got my tripod and i tried doing stuff at night and I dont see a difference just yet but it could be cause there isnt much light possibly? so I have to go somewhere withmore lighting, and also do ppl like at yea weird when you bust out the tripod?? just curious first time I am bringing one and would I have trouble carrying it on the plane or no?

And I also love your pictures!!!

From looking at and responding to your pictures in the show me two thread..you can't just plop your camera onto a tripod and expect everything to be fixed. If its massively underexposing things having a tripod won't improve anything. You must increase your shutter time, most likely manually.

 

[scoot241]

I haven't gotten to PP my fireworks pictures yet, but there are definitely things I would do differently for Wishes. I applied some of that to Illuminations (plus some suggestions on the fireworks thread) and got some great pictures. Will post some examples when I get to them.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

haha oh ok cause I got my tripod and i tried doing stuff at night and I dont see a difference just yet but it could be cause there isnt much light possibly? so I have to go somewhere withmore lighting, and also do ppl like at yea weird when you bust out the tripod?? just curious first time I am bringing one and would I have trouble carrying it on the plane or no?

And I also love your pictures!!!

Set the camera on a 2 sec delay or use a remote shutter release. The camera still moves when you push the button.

 

[stitch1986]

oh ok thxs well in the show me two that was hand held actually that was before I got a tripod lol

 

[GvilleDisneyDad]

What was your aperture setting?

I edited the original post with the camera settings.

 

[YesDear]

I think you did great for your first try. I bet I have deleted over 500 firework shots of Wishes I did not like!

I am re-posting two pictures I took last week of Wishes from the top of BLT. I will update actual exif info when I pull them off of the laptop I took. I am not posting them to tell you what to do but give you some ideas.

The first one was probably a 1 to 1.5 second exposure and the second one is probably a 2-2.5 exposure. I believe ISO was 200 on each.

I took pictures the night before and used aperture priority. They sucked because I was too far away to get enough light for the camera to read the image. These were taken on Manual with a radio controlled remote that will allow me to use bulb setting. That is that I held the shutter open as long as I wanted. No set time other than what I wanted.

The bottom line is fireworks is a real trial and error. Slowly, over time the error is reduced.

And by the way the shot below was handheld with a 10.5 and yes I was as amazed as you may be!

 

[pgowder]

Here are a couple from my first time shooting fireworks.

I'll upload some more later. We are still at WDW so haven't taken alot of time to process photos. But I wanted to get a couple online to get some advice. I'm going back to see Wishes 2 more times.

One thing I see in mine that I don't see in other people's photos is a glow around the castle? Is that just the smoke? Or what?

Thanks for the comments and advice!

View on Flickr

View on Flickr

 

[saturndb]

I think they came out nice and it looks like to me what you are seeing is smoke that is lit by the fireworks or castle lighting, I could be wrong, just my 2 cents. Have fun at "The WOLRD"

Dave

 

[YesDear]

I think they look great. Sometimes the smoke will just sit there and or get in the way. That is just the luck of the draw for the weather that night.

You are definitely getting the feel for it.

Is it me or were the images a little downhill to the right? That means they are a little crooked. Easily fixed in editing!

 

[pgowder]

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I'm going to Hallow Wishes tonight.

 

[YesDear]

If you are doing Hallowishes, you may want to back up some or get a wider angle lens if you want the fireworks that go off around you!

 

[GrillMouster]

Dude, you totally got the hang of it! You got nice streaks of light with a slow shutter speed and you managed to retain color in both the fireworks and castle (you didn't blow them out). Good on you!

The glow or haze you see is most likely smoke from the fireworks, and there's nothing you can really do about that. There should be less smoke at the beginning of the fireworks show and more toward the end.