Ugh, need some help!

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I shot my first fireworks shots with my Nikon D40 last night. I've had my camera 2 months and I've read and read and read until my eyes hurt. I was armed with everything I needed (for the most part...see below). Had my tripod, found a great spot, set up, set in M mode, 200 ISO, F10, bulb mode...went to take a test shot and my camera would not shoot. It told me it was too dark.

Now I KNOW that it's possible to take a pic of even blackness, right? In any case, I messed with it forever and was on the verge of tears when my son suggested that I turn the AF off on my lens. It worked...BUT, many of my pics were blurry b/c manual focusing on fireworks isn't easy! I have never heard of people having to turn of their AF to get their camera to shoot at night, so I was confused, but relieved I could get ANY shots at that point.

To make matters worse, D40's don't have AF in the camera, only the lens. I've never read anything about having to turn off AF when taking fireworks shots. I know it will be different at WDW in October b/c the castle is lit and it won't be pitch black, but still wondering what I'm doing wrong.

Here are a couple of my shots, I had some better and some worse than these. I think the exposure was good, but obviously, they are blurry b/c I couldn't use AF. Am I missing something? How do I get my camera to take a picture without turning it off???

 

[handicap18]

Its not the camera per say. What you need to do (and what I forgot to do yesterday too) was to focus on something far away, about the distance where the fireworks are. Once you get the focus locked, switch to Manual Focus on your camera (or lens). This way before each shot it wont try to hunt for a focus again.

Or when the first big burst comes, use that to focus then switch to manual focus on the camera (or the lens if the lens has a AF/M switch on it).

Here is one of mine from last night with the same issue you had and pretty much the same setting.... ISO 200, f/10, BULB

 

[Chikabowa]

Beautiful shots... even if they aren't in focus!

Kyle is correct, you want to lock in your focus prior and then switch it over to manual focus. It's a journey - so you'll have something new to try next time! Don't fret too much!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I don't know how to lock my focus???

 

[donaldduck1967]

Like handicap18 said, once you have the camera focused, turn AF off so the camera doesn't try to auto focus every time you push the shutter button.

 

[handicap18]

I don't know how to lock my focus???

Lock your focus means that your getting something in focus and you hear the beep. It will hunt to get in focus then beep, now your focus is locked. Switch to manual focus after you get the beep.

You'll probably want to switch to single area focus mode, use the middle box, focus on the trees or something in the distance while the camera is on the tripod and you've got your focal length where you want. Once you get the beep (focus locked), tilt the camera back up more towards the sky and switch to manual focus.

 

[wenrob]

I don't know how to lock my focus???

Push your shutter button down halfway. You should hear a beep and see a little green dot in the viewfinder. When that happens you have focus. Release the button and switch the lens to manual.

 

[wenrob]

*Jinx* Or what Kyle said...

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

THANK YOU! It seems so simple and yet I didn't think of it. I think b/c I didn't have anything to focus on before it started. I should have just waited for the first shot, and then switched to autofocus afterwards.

Luckily I will have the castle to focus on when we go to WDW!

 

[wenrob]

THANK YOU! It seems so simple and yet I didn't think of it. I think b/c I didn't have anything to focus on before it started. I should have just waited for the first shot, and then switched to autofocus afterwards.

Use autofocus to pre-focus and then switch to manual.