fireworks

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John Navitsky

John Navitsky

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i suppose i should search the forum, but anyone have fireworks tips? (my youtube search didn't turn up much other than the basics)

in particular i'm curious about diffraction when stopping down. how low is too low, or is there even such a thing in this situation?

thx
 
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John Navitsky said:
i suppose i should search the forum, but anyone have fireworks tips? (my youtube search didn't turn up much other than the basics)

in particular i'm curious about diffraction when stopping down. how low is too low, or is there even such a thing in this situation?

thx
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Long exposures to capture the streaking of the fireworks is the rule. I personally wouldn't worry too much about diffraction as these aren't pinpoint sharp things we're capturing. I'd also say that I have my best results with medium focal length to wider angle lenses and don't have to stop down like crazy for DoF reasons as I might with longer focal length glass and telephoto portrait work.
 
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I have shot fireworks and generally stick to f11, 2-4 seconds and ISO 200. You can view the galleries HERE. Once you select an image to view, you can click the "i" button on the left to see all the capture settings.

f11, 2s, 200 ISO
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f11, 2.5s, ISO 200
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f11, 2.5s, ISO 200
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f10, 3s, ISO 125
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On land I oftentimes shoot between 4 and 8 seconds with reasonably good results. If you are on water that obviously wont work. In that situation I have decent luck around 1/250 of a second. It
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works, although not as well as the longer exposures.
 
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Here is my feeble attempt of handholding after a full day at Disney....
Going thru these instantly brought back memories of this day at the park with my niece and here two little girls....that's why we love photography right?

EDIT: Obviously these are nowhere near as nice as Karens but I was rather surprised at how well hI ISOs, and VR worked in this situation.

Disney Fireworks-1.jpg
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Disney Fireworks-3.jpg
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Disney Fireworks-5.jpg
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Every scene and the distance you are will very exposure. I tend to shoot the environment not just the fireworks with no environment. For me I shoot iso 100, 8-10 seconds and usually between f9-f11.

Here is one from last night.
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John Navitsky said:
i suppose i should search the forum, but anyone have fireworks tips? (my youtube search didn't turn up much other than the basics)

in particular i'm curious about diffraction when stopping down. how low is too low, or is there even such a thing in this situation?

thx
Click to expand...
Did you by chance get out and shoot any last night?
 
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I find using Bulb to work the best for fireworks. It takes a little practice to know how long to keep the aperture open but it makes it easy to change exposure times on the Fly. IS0 1600, f4,
fly.
Fireworks_Disco_Bay_July-4th_BKlipp_July_2020_9_-3b.jpg
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These images were shot on July 1st. I was on a bridge over 100 feet over the river. I used my D810 with a 24-120 lens and was on my Gitzo 1228 tripod. I set my aperture F11 at about 3 seconds at 100 ISO. I've found in the past I don't get black blacks at ISO's 200 or 400. They stay in the deep brown range. Some shots are some where around 17 seconds. These are multiple exposures where I cover the end of the lens with my hand while still pressing the shutter.
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