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06/28/2007 07:33:13 PM · #1 |
| I was wondering if there are any hints or tricks people could give me when it comes to shooting fireworks. I am hoping to capture fireworks, with the city below them and a reflection off the water which silhouttes boats watching from the water. Any particualar fstops, shutter speeds, techniques?? |
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06/28/2007 07:44:17 PM · #2 |
I have not done this one myself, but I have read about it. you want to shoot a middle aperature if you can, simply because they are the sharpest. You want an overall exposure that is dead on for the fireworks, and hopefully that is within two stops of everything else. you want to shoot in raw, maybe try and hrd from one raw file.
there is another trick that I think may help, but I'm making this one up so it's untried. if you make an exposure before any fireworks go off, or catch a time that there is no fireworks going off that is exposed for the overal image. I would say maybe one stop underexposed just to make it believable, and then shoot away at the fireworks only worrying about what the firework looks like. When you get home use some crafty pp to combine the images. take multiple ones of the overall scene at many different exposures and just use the one you like the best.
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06/28/2007 07:47:14 PM · #3 |
I use a tripod and a remote trigger with my camera set to bulb mode. Set the aperature to f11 and the ISO to 100. If you have mirror lockup support then use that as well.
You are trying to get a sharp image, keep the noise down, and remove the camera shake.
Then when the fireworks start up just start taking pictures trying to leave the shutter open for some of the more dramatic explosions. Also, if you are near a road just use a hat or something to cover the lense if a car goes by.
Take a bunch of pictures!
Then when you get to processing them, it seems to really help to tweak the black levels then kick up the vibrancy.
This picture was at f11, ISO 100, for 15 seconds. I printed a 20x20 version of this and had it matted and framed. Hangs in my office and looks great!
This one is at f22, ISO 200, for 30 seconds (so it obvious caught a bunch of separate launches):
Message edited by author 2007-06-28 19:52:04. |
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06/28/2007 08:09:01 PM · #4 |
Thanks guys.
As I see this now, f/11 is a good fstop to shoot at as 100 iso. I will want to shoot 100 iso because my camera is bad with noise in dark areas. Because the exposure of the firework is not dependent on the shutter speed, as the light from the firework only lasts as long as the firework does, f/11 at any shutter will produce good results. Therefore, when using a tripod, I could set a 30 second exposure and once I see that one, two, or however many fireworks I want to go off have gone off, I can put a hat over the lens for the remaining time in the exposure.
Would that technique work? Correct me if any of the things I just stated are wrong please. |
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06/28/2007 08:12:11 PM · #5 |
yes, the hat system works. On the bottom photo I was standing on a road shooting a public firing area. Cars kept driving by so I just kept putting my hat over the lens and then pulling it away after the car goes by.
It is important to have a stable setting. On the upper photo, I didn't extend my tripod legs to get as much stability as possible (I have an old, cheap tripod).
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06/28/2007 08:43:12 PM · #6 |
| There are other threads on the subject from last year. They're worth a look, too. |
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06/28/2007 09:31:05 PM · #7 |
Another thing worth considering... do your homework ahead of time and figure out which way the air blows.
In Pittsburgh, I have a favorite vantage point for shooting fireworks (from Mt. Washington, high above the city with the skyline in the background). The problem is that from that direction, I can count on only getting some good shots at the beginning of the show because the smoke from the display eventually obscures everything. By the time the finale comes along, it's a mess of smoke.
Try to position yourself in a good spot where the smoke is going the opposite direction, and you'll have a longer period of time to get good shots.
It is fun to use a really long exposure and cover the lens (without bumping the camera) between fireworks. This can get you a bunch of fireworks in one shot over a period of time. |
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06/28/2007 10:25:13 PM · #8 |
you guys should check out this site theres a bunch of summer photo tips in the TGP choice section and one of them is on fireworks its a neat little trick
www.takegreatpictures.com
-Dan |
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06/29/2007 07:16:21 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by I Enjoy Ham:
you guys should check out this site theres a bunch of summer photo tips in the TGP choice section and one of them is on fireworks its a neat little trick
www.takegreatpictures.com
-Dan |
If you mean the article by Jon Sienkiewitz, I think some of his advice goes against the advice from previous threads in this forum. He recommends ISO 400 (or higher), with short exposure times. However, I guess he's writing for a different audience. Some of his example photos are rather poor, in my my opinion. |
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07/01/2007 07:15:48 PM · #10 |
Just about to go out and shoot them...(concert first thought)
I'm wondering what the white balance would be on these? |
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07/01/2007 08:43:52 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by KelvinC:
Just about to go out and shoot them...(concert first thought)
I'm wondering what the white balance would be on these? |
I think I would opt for Flash WB just so you get consistent results. Using auto will probably throw each photo off in a different direction depending on the colors of the fireworks. |
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07/01/2007 08:49:47 PM · #12 |
I think the hardest part of shooting fireworks is the finale, with so many going off at once I tend to get a lot of overexposure or blown out areas. I have yet to get one of these correct. Maybe this year. Since I'm about half a day ahead of US East coast I'll try and get any info I get from my shooting this wednesday night.
Good luck. |
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07/02/2007 07:26:56 PM · #13 |
just got this in an email...from olympus but still might be helpful
shooting fireworks
Message edited by L2 - Fixed link. |
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07/02/2007 07:30:28 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by sabphoto:
just got this in an email...from olympus but still might be helpful
shooting fireworks |
Server not found....
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07/02/2007 07:35:00 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Originally posted by sabphoto:
just got this in an email...from olympus but still might be helpful
shooting fireworks |
Server not found.... |
I can get into it...Maybe it is on your end.. |
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07/02/2007 07:53:34 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by sabphoto:
just got this in an email...from olympus but still might be helpful
shooting fireworks |
The basic settings for f-stop, exposure time and ISO seem to be good... but then they go on to say "set for -1 stop exposure compensation... huh? If ISO, aperture, and shutter speed are all locked in, it's not possible to independently adjust exposure compensation. But the basic advice is sound.
On the topic of saturation & contrast, I beg to differ. You can boost them in post, but if you blow channels because the settings are "vivid" and "high contrast" you're done for (assuming shooting JPEG).
I shoot RAW, expose to hold (most of) the highlights and optimize in conversion.
Message edited by author 2007-07-02 19:55:05. |
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07/02/2007 08:12:15 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
Originally posted by sabphoto:
just got this in an email...from olympus but still might be helpful
shooting fireworks |
The basic settings for f-stop, exposure time and ISO seem to be good... but then they go on to say "set for -1 stop exposure compensation... huh? If ISO, aperture, and shutter speed are all locked in, it's not possible to independently adjust exposure compensation. But the basic advice is sound.
On the topic of saturation & contrast, I beg to differ. You can boost them in post, but if you blow channels because the settings are "vivid" and "high contrast" you're done for (assuming shooting JPEG).
I shoot RAW, expose to hold (most of) the highlights and optimize in conversion. |
But what they're talking about is the auto-fireworks mode, in which case you would still be able to set the EV compensation (at least on the camera they're talking about) since the camera is still doing everything itself. |
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07/02/2007 09:16:58 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by bfox2:
Originally posted by kirbic:
Originally posted by sabphoto:
just got this in an email...from olympus but still might be helpful
shooting fireworks |
The basic settings for f-stop, exposure time and ISO seem to be good... but then they go on to say "set for -1 stop exposure compensation... huh? If ISO, aperture, and shutter speed are all locked in, it's not possible to independently adjust exposure compensation. But the basic advice is sound.
On the topic of saturation & contrast, I beg to differ. You can boost them in post, but if you blow channels because the settings are "vivid" and "high contrast" you're done for (assuming shooting JPEG).
I shoot RAW, expose to hold (most of) the highlights and optimize in conversion. |
But what they're talking about is the auto-fireworks mode, in which case you would still be able to set the EV compensation (at least on the camera they're talking about) since the camera is still doing everything itself. |
But the text claims that this mode sets the aperture to f/11, the shutter to 4 seconds, and the ISO to 100. Locking all of those three parameters locks the exposure. No compensation is possible unless one of the three parameters changes. |
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07/03/2007 12:05:14 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
...
But the text claims that this mode sets the aperture to f/11, the shutter to 4 seconds, and the ISO to 100. Locking all of those three parameters locks the exposure. No compensation is possible unless one of the three parameters changes. |
you are correct sir. I just set my camera on that and wouldn't let me change anything but file type. It is however automatically set to -1 on the EV. I won't be using that mode anyway since it is way too restricting. |
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07/03/2007 09:28:04 AM · #20 |
| I have a tip. Get your shot early while there's no smoke from the previous fireworks. If you try for the ending finally, the smoke might blur the shots. |
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07/03/2007 09:55:55 AM · #21 |
If the city is well lit, You might want to go from f/11 to something around f/8 and a slightly faster shutter, definately stick with the ISO 100,
If you do not have a remote. Set your exposure around 3 - 5 seconds and set the delay timer to 2 seconds. watch for the shells to leave the ground and hit the button. By the time the shell goes off the shutter will be open and will close about the same time the fireworks start to fade.
I plan on shooting fireworks tonight and tomorrow weather pending.
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07/03/2007 03:41:12 PM · #22 |
OK. f/8 to f/11, bulb shutter, ISO 100. What about noise reduction? That is the one thing I hate about digital. If you shoot for 30 seconds with noise reduction, you have to wait another 30 seconds before you can shoot so the camera can reduce the noise. Do you typically turn off noise reduction for these shots? If I understand, noise shows up, not necessarily in the darker area of a photo, but in the underexposed parts, right? And pitch black is not underexposed, right? So couldn't I just shoot without noise reduction and be all right? Then I could capture basically twice as many shots.
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07/03/2007 04:00:40 PM · #23 |
There's this resource also
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07/03/2007 05:11:57 PM · #24 |
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07/03/2007 11:23:44 PM · #25 |
i shot fireworks tonight, and i have a new respect for you all. got about 60 shots or so. hopefully i'll get a few keepers :D
great stuff.
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