[clackers]

If I've learnt anything in life, it's to not trust any fireworks coordinator who has an eye patch and only seven fingers.

A tripod is essential for this kind of shot. Never trust your camera for exposure, this is a situation you can do better in manual (turn the dial to M mode).

The explosions are very bright, so even at night, I'm going to suggest a starting point of f11 and ISO 100. Try an exposure of around two seconds to get nice lengths on the bursts. 'Chimp' (check your shots afterwards on the screen) to assess and tweak for your situation.

Fireworks is one of those situations in photography where autofocus is also useless, so begin by focusing on a distant building or tree at a similar distance to the height of the fireworks, and don't touch it for as long as you're shooting from that position. If only 'Seven Fingers' McGee had learnt to get his timing right while touching and holding things.

You might enjoy - could we say develop a 'flare' for? - this kind of shooting. In your variations, you can try exposures of 20 seconds or more, covering the lens with something like a piece of card when not much is going on, and exposing it during the action. Stick to less than 30 seconds to start with, because after that many Pentax bodies will by default take a similarly long dark frame to compare with your just taken shot and compute what noise reduction might be possible. You can't use the camera while that's happening.

Some interesting effects are possible when not using a tripod but deliberately moving the camera during the exposure, but that's for another time
.
K-S2, 21mm, 1.3s, f11, ISO 100

The rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

---

Last edited by clackers; 04-10-2022 at 07:21 PM.

[Mooncatt]

Some interesting effects are possible when not using a tripod but deliberately moving the camera during the exposure, but that's for another time

This is my preferred way to shoot fireworks. Other interesting effects can be had working a zoom in or out during the exposure.

For traditional shots, though, I would add that while the finalé may look and sound great in person, it typically doesn't make for a great photo. All those fireworks going off at once generate a ton of smoke, which can easily ruin a shot. A lot of "finale shots" are actually composite photos of multiple separate shots, combined in post processing.

[BigMackCam]

Excellent tip, Ian, and entertainingly written I don't consider myself a rank beginner, but I've never tried photographing fireworks and this will come in handy for when I do. Thanks!

[35mmfilmfan]

Excellent tip, Ian, and entertainingly written I don't consider myself a rank beginner, but I've never tried photographing fireworks and this will come in handy for when I do. Thank!

Almost a year until Guy Fawkes Night, though.

[BigMackCam]

Almost a year until Guy Fawkes Night, though.

Around here we see almost as many (or these days, as few) fireworks at New Year as we do on November 5th

[StiffLegged]

Almost a year until Guy Fawkes Night, though.

I’ll bet there are fireworks in Norwich tonight, Exeter has been unfailingly noisy each New Year and we will have to wait for everybody to finish before getting to sleep.

[UncleVanya]

I tend to use interval timer or self timer with f8 and around 10 second exposures at iso 100. I typically either set the self timer to two seconds and press the shutter when I hear the boom of the mortar (I’m typically not very far and can use a 55 mm on apsc) or interval mode to capture multiple bursts together.

Happy 4th! by -vanya_42nd-

IMGP6492 by -vanya_42nd-

IMGP0281_DxO by -vanya_42nd-

---------- Post added 12-31-21 at 08:42 AM ----------

These are from a tripod I forgot to mention.

[Larrymc]

Excellent tips, Ian! One more I might add is the use of a wired remote and using bulb mode instead of the camera's timer. Bulb mode is easy to use by counting the length of time (trigger the shutter and count one thousand one and so on through what ever length of time you want to use keeping in mind not to go too long) I use a similar aperture setting and ISO as you and like you pre-focus manually. This was shot back in 2018 with my K-3.


Pyrotechnic Dandelion by Larry Mc, on Flickr

[gatorguy]

Love this series you're doing Clackers! Pass the knowledge on...
Thank you.

[clackers]

Love this series you're doing Clackers! Pass the knowledge on...
Thank you.

Yes, I like to think that not everyone is a jaded hack like us, Gatorguy ... there might be beginners on this forum too, who feel the level of discussion is not for them.

[35mmfilmfan]

I’ll bet there are fireworks in Norwich tonight, Exeter has been unfailingly noisy each New Year and we will have to wait for everybody to finish before getting to sleep.

You were correct, sir - went on here until after midnight. Waste of money, wildlife and pets terrified, elderly people prevented from sleeping - welcome to 2022. At least I spent the day prior to the disturbance birding at Cley, which gave me a plateau of calm to sustain me.

[BigMackCam]

You were correct, sir - went on here until after midnight. Waste of money, wildlife and pets terrified, elderly people prevented from sleeping - welcome to 2022. At least I spent the day prior to the disturbance birding at Cley, which gave me a plateau of calm to sustain me.

It was remarkably quiet around here... especially since my next door neighbours, whose garden was like the Battle of the Somme this last November 5th, were nowhere to be seen or heard. There was a small number of fireworks a few streets away, and I could see occasional glimmers of a laser light show in the cloudy sky from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 8 miles North of me, but - so far as I'm aware - that was it. My cat slept the sleep of the gods

I watched London's firework and drone display on TV at midnight... that was impressive, and the spoken messages actually quite inspiring and patriotic. TV was the best way to view it, I'm quite sure