How to shoot fireworks

[Jamian]

I got a chance to shoot some fireworks on Saturday night and took 135 captures and only kept 19 I am not sure why some of them came out blurry? I had my camera on a tripod and ISO 200 my F-stop was 11 and my shutter was set to bulb. I was wondering if I should have used a wider lens and not my sigma 70-300, or if I just shot it for to long. If some one can help me that would be great.

Were you using a remote shutter release or pressing the shutter release button on the camera? Did you have autofocus on? Sometimes autofocus will work against you when shooting fireworks. It's usually best to pre-focus on something in the area where the fireworks will be and then turn it off. The actual exposures look fine I just think you had an issue with either camera shake or missed focus.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

Yes I did have it on MF and I had a cable shutter release on, maybe it could have been that my tripod was in a DIRT FIELD . I really had nothing to focus on, so I focused on a building and then just raised the lens into the sky. It was much harder than I thought because the fireworks were'nt always in the same place in the sky. Yours just looked so sharp!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Yes I did have it on MF and I had a cable shutter release on, maybe it could have been that my tripod was in a DIRT FIELD . I really had nothing to focus on, so I focused on a building and then just raised the lens into the sky. It was much harder than I thought because the fireworks were'nt always in the same place in the sky. Yours just looked so sharp!

I love the colors on the last one! I haven't been able to figure this out yet myself; the ones I took on my little camera in fireworks mode always turned out better!

 

[Groucho]

That's definitely a focus issue... when the camera moves during the exposure, the firework trails will be wobbly. Yours are nice and straight, just blurry... I would guess that you focused too closely.

Jamian - whatever; you're welcome to offer tips and I'm welcome to criticism them. It seems an odd way to try to lose a stop versus just stopping down further (I'm not sure that diffraction is really going to be all that noticeable at F14) - and like I said, exposure times and background lighting change so much that what works for one shot won't work for another. I haven't found overexposure to be a big issue, and I just shot Nightastic at ISO 200 and F10 - a stop faster than what you started with, not counting the filter.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

That's definitely a focus issue... when the camera moves during the exposure, the firework trails will be wobbly. Yours are nice and straight, just blurry... I would guess that you focused too closely.

I am not sure of what you mean by focused to closely. Let me give an example, on the 4th of July we can see fireworks from the Golf course and I don't really have anything to focus on, so what should I do to make sure that the frieworks are nice and sharp
Thanks for your time.

 

[GrillMouster]

tlcmommyx4, I agree with Groucho that it looks like the focus was off the mark. I think you said that you were using a Sigma 70-300. I don't have that lens, but sometimes lenses have "creep". When the lens is pointed downward or upward (any way but perfectly level), gravity forces the barrel to extend or contract, slowly changing the focal length and/or focus. Some lenses that are known to have "creep" have a lock to prevent this (for example, the original Nikon 18-200 VR had bad creep, so in the VRII model of the lens I think they added a lock).

You said that you had Manual Focus enabled. You may have accidentally had it on AutoFocus, and the camera couldn't grab focus. Or, if you did have it inMF you may have adjusted the focal length (zoom) or moved the camera/tripod without readjusting the focus. You or someone else may have just accidentally touched/bumped the camera/lens. Additionally, you stated that you didn't actually focus on fireworks; you focused on a building. The fireworks and building were likely at different distances from the camera's sensor plane, and, therefore, focussing on one might not result in the other being in focus. I noticed in the images you posted that they do not all appear to have the same composition/elements. For example, in the sharpest image of the bunch there appears to be the top of a building and powerlines, but I don't see that in the other shots. So, did you reposition the camera or focal length? These are all just possibilities.

 

[mom2rtk]

I want to photograph our town's fireworks this 4th of July. I've gotten better at fireworks at Disney but there IS a castle involved to focus on.

Without something else in the photo, should I wait for a burst, set the focus, then switch to manual at that position for the rest? Or do I just set it to infinity?

 

[GrillMouster]

Start out with infinity and refine after the initial bursts. If you want both fireworks and nearer objects in focus, you can use DOF preview (if you camera has it), or do a little pre-prep to figure out hyperfocal distance. You can print up a chart for this, or if you have a smartphone use various websites or apps to figure out hyperfocal distance.

 

[Groucho]

Whoops, sorry tlcmommyx4, forgot to reply to this thread.

GrillMouster has it right. It's best to focus to infinity then maybe pull back a little (not much!), or to set your camera to autofocus during the first burst, have it grab focus, then switch to manual focus.

For reference, here's a couple examples of a fireworks shot where the camera itself moved during it. In this case, I was on a boat so there are pretty smooth curves. If you're handholding or a tripod is bumped, you'll usually get a pretty jagged line. This also is over water, hence the misty water seen in the bottom of the shots. On a side note, the lack of any obvious static foreground objects means that I could easily go for a very long exposure - the second shot is 21 seconds.

 

[tlcmommyx4]

GrillMouster and Groucho, thank you both so much. I tried to think back and I did move my tripod over just a little and didn't re-focus yikes! I think I am going to try to AF on the first burst and then swich over to MF on infinity right? One more question, do I want to use the zoom lens like the 70-300 or something like the 28-70 which would be a wider lens? I so want to get some great shots on the 4th, and thanks to you all here, I think it just might happen. If you could tell me your opition on the lens that would be great!!!!! Hope you all have a great day.

 

[mom2rtk]

I do think any time you can go with a lighter lens when shooting fireworks on a tripod, the better. Less chance for lens creep, and less chance for the camera to shift down if it's not locked down tight enough, or if the head isn't stable enough.

Other than that, the length lens kind of would depend on the size of the show and how close you were to it.

Can't wait to see how you do. Keep plugging along and I'll do the same! I already told the family I'm abandoning them for the fireworks this year. We're just blocks from our town's huge show, and we usually sit with the neighbors at the end of the street. But there's too many street lights between here and the show for good photography, so I'm going to hoof it down closer. They said "bye... have fun. We're staying here......." Oh well....... it will be peaceful at least!

 

[GrillMouster]

I think I am going to try to AF on the first burst and then swich over to MF on infinity right?

Yeah, if you use AF on an early burst, and it seemed to have done a good job grabbing focus (zoom in on the LCD to be sure), then switch over to MF to "lock in" that focus, being extra careful not to hit the zoom or focus rings on the lens. If AF was able to grab focus, then you don't need to move the focus to infinity after you've switched to MF. Focussing on infinity (and as Groucho said going back just a tad, because sometimes the infinity dial goes a little too far) is just if AF doesn't work or if you want to try it first before attempting AF.

One more question, do I want to use the zoom lens like the 70-300 or something like the 28-70 which would be a wider lens? I so want to get some great shots on the 4th, and thanks to you all here, I think it just might happen. If you could tell me your opition on the lens that would be great!!!!! Hope you all have a great day.

I prefer to shoot fireworks with a wide/normal focal length, not telephoto (unless I'm shooting from very far away). Some of the bursts can be very large, and a wider focal length gives a nice sense of scale, larger depth of field, and it also gives the appearance that the fireworks are sharper (blur is less noticeable when the subject is smaller in the frame).

 

[GrillMouster]

Oh, and one more thing. I think you said you were using a remote shutter release, which is great. In circumstances where you feel the need to use a remote shutter release, you may want to also want to use use Mirror Up (if your camera has this functionality), as mirror slap can also cause blur. It's not a problem at very fast shutter speeds or at very long shutter speeds (fireworks can fall into the latter category).

 

[mom2rtk]

Oh, and one more thing. I think you said you were using a remote shutter release, which is great. In circumstances where you feel the need to use a remote shutter release, you may want to also want to use use Mirror Up (if your camera has this functionality), as mirror slap can also cause blur. It's not a problem at very fast shutter speeds or at very long shutter speeds (fireworks can fall into the latter category).

I found out how to use live view during our recent trip. This accomplishes the same thing, right?

 

[GrillMouster]

Yes, it does.
Just know that in live mode the AF relies On contrast detection and can be slower.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, it does.
Just know that in live mode the AF relies On contrast detection and can be slower.

I focused on the castle then switched to manual focus, so I didn't have a problem with that.

 

[carrie80]

About 6 years ago, during my 2nd College Program, I took up the hobby of photographing fireworks. Oh, the memories, of me spending a day at the park carrying around all my equipment (no, thank you, I was not going to take the time to go back home to get it and I think in those days I mostly took the CP bus to the parks anyway. ) So I'd just happily tour the park with my stuff, then take photos.

These photos were taken with a SLR film camera. I always used a tripod and I think I did the bulb exposure using the shutter release cord. They were probably between 3 and 8 seconds, although I'm not sure.

I'm so happy I finally got around to scanning and uploading them. There were over 60 pictures. I probably have more somewhere, too. One of these rolls just got developed 2 weeks ago.

I took some from the Contemporary 4th Floor Observation Deck one day.

Yes, sometimes I had people in front of me. Next time I'll try to scope out a better spot.

And I got a couple of Illuminations one day. I can't believe I don't have more of these. I probably went to take more, but the weather didn't cooperate or something. I think when there's higher humidity the smoke stays longer. And it seems that fireworks always make it start to rain if the humidity is high enough. Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just crazy ?

Sorry if that was a lot of pics. I had a hard time narrowing them down. Thanks for any tips you might have. I need a refresher. It's been awhile since I took these.

 

[dpuck1998]

Thought I'd hope in here since it was mentioned on the podcast. I'm always looking for better ways to get shots of the fireworks. If nothing else, this post proves something we all know about photography. There are endless ways to get a good shot and doing it one way doesn't always get perfect results. We have everything form 1/40 to 8 second or more shutter speeds, both with great results. This is frustration for the beginners, I know, but keep shooting is the key.

 

[JMUAndy05]

I don't want to steal anyone's thunder, but can anyone recommend a few ideal spots to set up for a rookie that's never shot photos at Disney before? I've been following all the experts flickr pages for sometime.

For EPCOT, I know Japan is a popular place to set up shop. Any other recommendations? What is this island people reference that is a popular place to shoot Illuminations from?

Also, I'm heading down with:

D90 / Tripod / Remote Release / Lots of Memory
Nikon 35mm f1.8
Nikon 50mm f1.8
Tokina 11-16mm
Nikon 18-200mm VR II
Nikon 10.5mm fisheye

Which do you think will be the best for shooting fireworks? The Tokina and the 18-200? I'm brining ND filters, but have had little chance to practice with them, so I hope luck shines down on me. I only get to Disney a max of once per year, so I have 5 days to try my luck at the night shows.

I've done my best to study up on all the pointers people have provided (WDWphotography, Flickr, DIS, etc). Have my tripod, remote release, know to shoot on manual focus, lower the f stop with my long exposures.

Can anyone recommend which ND filters would work best? I have a .3, .6, and .9. Would really appreciate any added pointers folks can think of.

 

[heatherbelle]

Are there any owners of the above camera out there? If so could you post some of your night time and firework shots please. I think in the US its a Ti1.

My little P&S Nikon can't take these shots, so we've decided to upgrade to a proper camera.I have never owned a DSLR camera, I use to own a Minolta when film was around and loved that. I don't want a Sony, we have already ruled that out.

The guy in the shop tried to sell us a Samsung NX10, is this anygood ? I was put off as I have never heard about it. I've read loads of reviews and I am really confused.

I am no pro just like taking photo's mainly of pets, kids and on holiday.