[jaieger]

Hey all, later this evening I'm going to be shooting some fireworks at the Celebration of Light, and anyone who's ever attended it knows that it (and especially tonight, being China/the last night) is always jam-packed with people. As far as bags/packs go, I have either my messenger bag that I usually use (which is too small for my tripod) or luggage bags (which are way too big to carry around given the volume of people), and I don't want to carry around a tripod for 4 hours.

Therefore, my main option is to shoot these things with no tripod - and I was hoping for some tips on how to get it done well. I understand that generally, I should be at around F8-F11, ISO 1-200, and anywhere from 1-4s exposure. Any tips on if I should shorten the exposure a bit (at the expense of shorter firework trails) or find a way to hold it super steady ?

[blackcloudbrew]

Not many options there. Do you have a monopod? That might work but at those exposure times it's going to be real hard.

[jaieger]

Not many options there. Do you have a monopod? That might work but at those exposure times it's going to be real hard.

Indeed. I'm hoping for a magic log that I can sit next to that's flat inclined at exactly the right angle and all I have to do is prop my camera up on that and press the button But nope, no monopod either.

[Eruditass]

Magic log or anything you can set the camera on (and perhaps hold very lightly) would be sweet.

[MPrince]

You could make a chain pod, but I doubt it would be steady enough for 1-4 sec exposure. Here's a quick & dirty (& crappy) photo of one so you can see how to make it. This just shows the business end which screws into the tripod socket, depending on how tall you are a 6 foot chain should be long enough. Just drop the chain on the ground and step on it to hold it steady.

[Marc Sabatella]

You can treat fireworks like any other low light photography - wide open aperture, increase ISO enough to get handholdable shutter speeds.

[Jodokast96]

You can treat fireworks like any other low light photography - wide open aperture, increase ISO enough to get handholdable shutter speeds.

True, but really, what usually makes for good fireworks pics are shutter speeds that are too long for handholding.

Just take the tripod.

[Nowhere Matt]

I was photographing a fireworks display once and simply laid down on my back so the displays were more or less right over me. I laid the camera on my chest to help steady the shot. As I recall though I was shooting one or two stops under f8 and got a few surprisingly good ones.

[reeftool]

The first day I got my K10D, I shot fireworks handheld at our town's Holiday celebration. I had quite a few keepers. Take a lot of shots. The in body SR works very well and I had some keepers as slow a 1/4 sec. Most of the better ones were at 1/15 and f/8 looking at the exif.

[subeeds]

I had some keepers from the 4th that I took hand held. I just took a deep breath before pressing the shutter and held it until I released it. Also, "propped" my elbows against my sides.

[jaieger]

Well, in the end, I just ended up propping up my elbow with my knees and handholding em. Didn't fare too poorly either:

[anthers]

Nice photos!

I almost never use a tripod because I don't like to carry one with me.

You can use almost any surface to steady a camera, I've braced against railings, poles, my chest, my knees, etc. It won't be as good as a tripod, but you can still get some nice results. I have a 1/6s exposure braced against a streetlamp that printed nicely at 12x18 and probably could go bigger. Take lots of exposures and keep the good ones.