Fireworks

Shoei

Shoei

Shoei

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Joined
11 Dec 2003
Posts
2,452
Location
Heysham, Lancs
Since it's fast approaching that time of year when the "taking of Baghdad" re-enactment society's get into full swing guess its time to try my hand at shooting fireworks as Lancaster put on a cracking show by the castle for free.

Got the dirty great huge .50 caliber, sorry 055 Pro tripod for stability and remote detonator/release.

But the puzzling bit is aperture setting?
Going to be using the 18-70 lens so i can get a decent view/amount of sky in if i use the 17mm end.
Whats the usual choice for aperture then, f8, f11 or go higher?
 
I got some great results last year at f16 using bulb and just randomly releasing the shutter....
Also had it at 18mm which was the widest it would go and I was right at the front of the crowd, so 17mm should be plenty.

It also depends it you're planning to capture the castle in the picture, if it's lit it could make for an interesting image, so it might be worth trying some shots and even putting in an ND Grad upside down if it blows out....
 
The standard settings are around ISO100 and f/8. That should expose the fireworks pretty perfectly and should get the castle ok as well.

The exposure time is then really just used to get as much of the firework as you want. Usually between 1 and 2 seconds depending on how much of the trails you want. :)
 
Time to mention the card trick.

You may want to practice this on a small display or local private ones first to get an idea of the light but...

Basically, set the aperture to something like F5.6-F11, find where it's nice and sharp really. ISO100 (200 for Nikon obv.). Manual shutter in bulb mode. Focus where you would do for fireworks, so, near infinity really.

Now this is obviously a lot lot easier if you have a remote release but i suppose it can be done with holding the shutter release too.

Basic method is to take a nice thick piece of black card, cover the lens with it and set of the shutter. Then, as you hear a rocket go up, remove the card, let it explode and then recover. Wait for the next one you hear, uncover, explode, recover.

This basically enables you to capture a lot of fireworks in one exposure but without light pollution killing it too much :)
 
seen the card trick mentioned a few times.
Im not fussed about the outcome on saturday night, mainly going to have a play as long as weather is good.

And why ISO200 for the nikon? the D80 does 100 no problem.
 
Does it?

meh, I assumed they were still on the 200 Minimum like the D70. use 100 in that case.
 
Just watch out for wind, it's almost impossible to take good pictures of fireworks when it's windy, they go sideways instead of up...
 
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