What should I do to take a good picture of fireworks?

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Permalink Reply by shravangotru on June 29, 2009 at 4:52am

Hello,
First let me tell you that all you pictures are beautiful. If you are teasing thats OK !. I noticed that the angle of the shoot is somewhere below and quite near to the fire works. May be you can try shooting from a distance to get a lateral view using a zoom lens. The distance helps in keeping the path of the fire to more smoother curves. be mindful of the lights in the foreground hope this helps
rgrds
gotru

Permalink Reply by Ervintha Dhevi on June 29, 2009 at 11:26am

Ha..ha..thank you Gotru, but no, i'm not teasing. I want to know what is the real technique for taking pic. of fireworks, since all I did was set the fireworks mode on my camera. A lot of photos I took was bad..so I only upload the good ones.
You're right, I was sitting down right in front of the fireworks, next time I will try your suggestion. Thanks again.

Permalink Reply by Rob Bixby on June 29, 2009 at 3:40pm

The main thing I would suggest is a remote release AND a tripod. That would eliminate the shake shown in these shots. Your exposure is very good. I'd be interested in knowing what your settings were. I have been taught to use the lowest ISO your camera will handle, aperture of f/8 - f/11, manual focus to infinity and use the bulb settings with a remote release and tripod to eliminate the shake of the camera. Then use a 5-10 second exposure to get the best exposure of the "streamers". After the first salvo, the shots will generally explode in the same area so you set your center point to that location. When a shot launches, open the shutter and hold it open until you get the desired bloom. The down side of this technique is that if you have a strong wind, you will get motion blur from the bloom being blown. The way to counter for this is to use shorter exposure times. As shown in this shot, the bloom is shorter but your get more usable shots.

Permalink Reply by Ervintha Dhevi on June 30, 2009 at 1:02pm

Wow..you have a beautiful & clean shot of fireworks there!
Thank you Rob for the suggestion and I will use tripod for this coming 4th of July fireworks.
I'm using Canon Powershot S5IS..that has fireworks setting mode.
I will also try your methode to snap the picture when the shot launches.
What kind of camera were you using to take that picture?

Permalink Reply by Mike Hiler on June 30, 2009 at 8:11pm

Totally agree with Rob. #1 item you MUST have is a tripod. #2 item you really need is a cable release (remote shutter release). Rob's suggested exposure settings are right on. Your camera's 'Fireworks' setting is almost exactly what Rob suggested. Your shots were taken at ISO-80, F8.0, and exposed for 2 seconds.

Rob's excellent shot was at ISO-100, F11.0, and exposed for 2.5 seconds, using a Canon 30D.

I hope to find a decent display this weekend and take some foreworks shots of my own.

Mike :)

Permalink Reply by Ervintha Dhevi on June 30, 2009 at 9:44pm

Thank you Mike. Do you know if i will be able to use Rob's technique with my camera?
I've been thinking to buy a DSLR camera but I love my Canon S5is features.
Because I can just point and shoot ha..ha..

May I know what kind of camera are using right now?

Thanks,

Ervintha

Permalink Reply by Mike Hiler on July 1, 2009 at 8:17am

Unfortunately, it looks like the S5 IS has no capability to use a remote/cable shutter release. The self-timer is can be adjusted from 10 to 2 seconds (that's the time it takes from when you depress the sdhutter release until the shutter actually opens) and it appears the timer is even customizable (you'll have to read your manual about this [and experiment]).

Other tnat no remote release, you should be able to manually set the aperature and the exposure length (or just keep using the 'Fireworks' scene setting.

With a tripod and without a remote shutter release, the risk you run is shaking the camera when you depress the shutter release. What I would recommend (and I really suggest you experiment with it) is to set the timer to the 2-seconds point, then depress the shutter release just when you hear a fireworks launch. You can usually hear the 'thump' retort unless you're too far away or its too noisy out.

Mike :)

P.S.: I'm currently using a Canon 40D most of the time.

Permalink Reply by shravangotru on July 1, 2009 at 10:32pm

Hello Ervintha,
Just saw the fireworks photographs posted by James Vincent Wardhaugh and he is using a Canon PowerShot A550 , just check it
gotru

Permalink Reply by Ervintha Dhevi on July 4, 2009 at 1:58pm

Thanks a bunch Gotru....
I'll go check it..but do you remember which group did he post it?

Permalink Reply by Ervintha Dhevi on July 4, 2009 at 9:56pm

This photo is exactly what I want it....
This time I used a tripod & tried to shoot at the 1st launch to get the full bloom.
Thank you so much for all the support & suggestion, I learn it from the best!