Thanks, Joanie! I have a Nikon D60 with a 18-200mm Nikkor VII lens. I also have the kit lens. I haven't really gotten more equipment. I need a flash, because the camera flash does not work well with any lenses other than the 18-55mm. It tends to cause shadows in the bottom--I'm sure because of the direction of the flash.
I do use a tripod with the camera for the night shots. I'm still deciding on my best shutter speed and apeture for those fireworks photos.
I'm sure you're probably aware of a lot of this info, but perhaps you can find something interesting from this report I worked up about shooting fireworks with a Nikon D60. This was for my last trip and I took a lot of hints from the folks at the Dis Photography boards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Master Plan for shooting Fireworks....
Ok, so here goes the check list for shooting Fireworks at Disney.
Notice that I got all this info from all of you who contributed tips and tricks to the photography board over the ages. THANKS!!!!!!! I had been reading through the boards and copy/pasting relevant quotes so that I could get a better idea of just how to go about this.
This is a checklist so that I can be sure to set my Nikon D60 correctly in manual mode, in the dark, in a hurry, with people in the way, asking me questions like "Are you a Photopass Photographer?".
Shooting FIREWORKS (for Nikon D60)
Check to see that no obstructions are in your way; Check the wind (smoke) One thing to take into consideration is wind direction. Some nights that there is a steady breeze it could be smart to pick a totally unconventional spot maybe in frontier land if it keeps the smoke away.
Set tripod and LOCK all adjusters **Watch your horizon, use hot shoe bubble level.
DO NOT USE noise reduction (slows shutter interval due to in camera image processing.)
Shoot a totally black frame (eg., one with your lens cap on) for Photoshop Post processing.
For a good exposure on the foreground object take a photo of it without any fireworks.
Set Camera to Manual Mode, Meter on Matrix and NOT SPOT!
SET your lowest ISO,
Shoot on the wide side (no zoom) and crop post production. Fireworks are shot off on both sides of the castle as well as in the back.
Set your focus: Make sure Auto focus area mode is set to closest subject (AF- area mode = solid black square) First auto focus on castle. Check using range finder . Set the FOCUS to MANUAL (magnify glass AF-A change to MF) and leave it there. Turn off Autofocus on lens itself, Nikon says turn VR OFF on a tripod, but leave it ON on a monopod.
Use a Remote, Set camera to Bottom remote setting. Push and hold to open shutter, Push again to close shutter. Use bulb/'time' setting, use tripod.
Set Aperture using Aperture button by on/off switch. Rotate dial to change Aperture. Apertures of f/8 to f/16 are typically the best if shooting ISO 100. One thing to remember is that as the aperture goes up, the castle will be darker in the same shutter-length photo The advantage is that the fireworks trails aren't as blown out.
Recheck that shutter is set to TIME aka bulb. When rotating aperture dial sometimes the shutter gets changed.
use the viewfinder cover
REMEMBER: overly long exposures 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 use black nonreflective cloth or board to temporarily place over lens. Open the shutter and then cover it between bursts with the cover. If using manual mode, experiment with exposures of 1 to 4 seconds.
Go for the fireworks in the beginning of the show - toward the end, you will mostly get smoke. Keep Shooting anyway and ditch the smoky ones in post production.
If there are many fireworks going off at once or bright white fireworks, you take a shorter picture... and if it's a quieter moment, you can hold the shutter open longer.
PhotoShop 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.
WHEN FINISHED SHOOTING REVERSE CHECK LIST AND RETURN CAMERA
TO DAYLIGHT SETTINGS.
END Instructions
Thanks again for all of your info and inspiration.
Marlton MOM
)
We just love POR! 
