Originally posted by mikeSF my usual tips are:
i use Bulb mode with a cable release. if you are open too long, you can easily blow out the bursts because fireworks are very bright, At low ISO, 1-4 sec shutters usually work well. any longer and the wind motion of the fireworks may start to introduce lateral blur.
About framing, if you are close wider focal length is better because you cannot usually predict where the bursts will be and it is better to crop than to have a whole bunch of partials. One July 4th, i started with my 28mm and had to change to 15mm because the show was much closer and spread out than i had expected. If shootinh from a distance, this is easy because there is almost no variation in location of the bursts, the only variable becomes maximum height.
i do a few more things in that i bring a piece of black card to cover my lens and open the shutter, then wait for a rising rocket to move into my frame and slide away the card to catch the burst without the tail. if i want two bursts on the same image (a double exposure), i will keep the shutter open but slide the card over the lens until another gets lined up where i want it and then i pull the card away. sounds more complicated than it is but after awhile you can really dial in what you want.
also, pause from shooting to try to actually enjoy the show once in awhile...we sometimes forget the experience when we are trying to capture it through a camera lens.
Twins
645D & 67 M*300/4
If you are shooting against a city skyline or other subject matter, it can be tricky to get the buildings to be as bright as the firework display. Below, i did a bracketed exposure of 30sec just before the show started to properly expose for the skyline, and then a short 3-5 sec exposure of the burst and blended them in photoshop (using lighten or lighter color blend mode). It would be pretty tricky to capture all that dynamic range in a single exposure without losing detail, so this gets it cleaner, but a more advanced technique.
White Set
K3II & F*300/4.5