Great fireworks tutorial for your next fireworks photoing

I got this video from Adorama and tried it out for the 4th and the suggestions were great. Here is the link and my comments follow:

http://www.adorama.com/ALC/Article.aspx?googleid=0012601&alias=8-Tips-For-Mastering-Firework-Photography-AdoramaTV&utm_source=ET&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=EmailALC070112

1. I shoot 7D and 40D and I set them to bulb:

7D has a "B" (bulb) setting on the dial
40D- turn to Tv and adjust to "bulb" Not sure what the setting is for Nikon

If you shoot Manual, the photo will "make" to everlong you have the shutter speed set to.

2. Set aperture to f/10

3. Set ISO to 100

4. Use a tripod

5. Use a cable release

6. Use the widest angle lens you have and set to as wide as you have

7. Set to manual focus and turn to infinity and then back off slightly. I used a Canon 10-22 and set mine to the left of the infinity scale where the line makes a 90 degree turn.

8. Most of my shots were 4 to 7 seconds. When you see the fireworks going from the stage, depress the shutter and keep it depressed until the fireworks fizzle and others start---- usually 4 to 7 seconds and then release the button and depress it for the next shot and so on.

9. If the shot is very bright, you may get some blinkies, but I shoot RAW + JPEG and I can adjust the blinkies.

10. You'll love the results.

Kent

Great tutorial there, unfortunately I'll have to wait until November until I can try it out over here (UK)

Thanks

KENTGA said:

I got this video from Adorama and tried it out for the 4th and the suggestions were great. Here is the link and my comments follow:

http://www.adorama.com/ALC/Article.aspx?googleid=0012601&alias=8-Tips-For-Mastering-Firework-Photography-AdoramaTV&utm_source=ET&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=EmailALC070112

1. I shoot 7D and 40D and I set them to bulb:

7D has a "B" (bulb) setting on the dial
40D- turn to Tv and adjust to "bulb" Not sure what the setting is for Nikon

If you shoot Manual, the photo will "make" to everlong you have the shutter speed set to.

2. Set aperture to f/10

3. Set ISO to 100

4. Use a tripod

5. Use a cable release

6. Use the widest angle lens you have and set to as wide as you have

7. Set to manual focus and turn to infinity and then back off slightly. I used a Canon 10-22 and set mine to the left of the infinity scale where the line makes a 90 degree turn.

8. Most of my shots were 4 to 7 seconds. When you see the fireworks going from the stage, depress the shutter and keep it depressed until the fireworks fizzle and others start---- usually 4 to 7 seconds and then release the button and depress it for the next shot and so on.

9. If the shot is very bright, you may get some blinkies, but I shoot RAW + JPEG and I can adjust the blinkies.

Click to expand...

That's very close to what I did, except that I used f/11 and my 70-200 (because I was shooting from a distance). Using bulb made all the difference in the world, and I got some very nice shots this year. The only problem I had was that the finale was too bright. I should have stopped down to f/16. Perhaps I can recover some detail in the RAW file, though.

What white balance setting did you use. I set mine to cloudy and was not real happy with the results.



This is one of the better ones.



Thanks

Andy

--

I set it to auto. It's not clear to me what "white balance" means in the context of fireworks.

Thanks
--

my first fireworks shoot and failed. why

1. too close to the fireworks.
2.2 seconds shutter speed, should be 3-4 s

Robert,

Some of mine were overexposed also. If you use Photoshop, go to Alt I > A > L and at the bottom, move to arrow on the right (white) side to the left. If you want to get rid or foreground, move up one section to the black on the right and move it to the right. One person adjusted the apeture but I didn't have time to do that.

To make my colors a little more vivid, I increased the saturation of some of the individual colors.

Nice photos.

Kent

KENTGA said:

Robert,

Some of mine were overexposed also. If you use Photoshop, go to Alt I > A > L and at the bottom, move to arrow on the right (white) side to the left. If you want to get rid or foreground, move up one section to the black on the right and move it to the right. One person adjusted the apeture but I didn't have time to do that.

Click to expand...

I use GIMP and ufraw (I also have rawtherapee, but I find ufraw does a good job with this). I was able to get more detail with the least overexposed shot, but otherwise there just wasn't much left.

KENTGA said:

To make my colors a little more vivid, I increased the saturation of some of the individual colors.

Click to expand...

That may be worth doing.

KENTGA said:

Nice photos.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

KENTGA said:

1. I shoot 7D and 40D and I set them to bulb:

7D has a "B" (bulb) setting on the dial
40D- turn to Tv and adjust to "bulb" Not sure what the setting is for Nikon

If you shoot Manual, the photo will "make" to everlong you have the shutter speed set to.

Click to expand...

If you don't have a remote release, don't use bulb. The problem is, you have to be touching the camera. Instead, set a shutter speed and use the timer.

KENTGA said:

2. Set aperture to f/10

Click to expand...

Well, good apertures can range depending on shutter speed and frequency of the fireworks because having a lot overlapping can blow out your exposure. On the other hand, having just a few can mean a somewhat faster aperture can help.

KENTGA said:

3. Set ISO to 100

Click to expand...

Yep. Well, mostly.

KENTGA said:

4. Use a tripod

Click to expand...

Well, there are cases where you can shoot fast exposure in the 1/10th to 1/60th range, in which case you might not need one. But, yeah, most of the time a tripod is a good way to go.

KENTGA said:

5. Use a cable release

Click to expand...

Or a timer, or an IR release.

KENTGA said:

6. Use the widest angle lens you have and set to as wide as you have

Click to expand...

That's not a good suggestion. I have a 15mm fisheye. Last Wednesday I was quite a ways away and needed closer to 50mm equivalent to properly frame. As always, the best focal length is the one that gives you proper framing.

KENTGA said:

7. Set to manual focus and turn to infinity and then back off slightly. I used a Canon 10-22 and set mine to the left of the infinity scale where the line makes a 90 degree turn.

Click to expand...

Also bad. Different lenses are different. Instead, use the focusing system to focus on the first firework that goes off. Switch to manual and shoot another to verify that things are good.

KENTGA said:

8. Most of my shots were 4 to 7 seconds. When you see the fireworks going from the stage, depress the shutter and keep it depressed until the fireworks fizzle and others start---- usually 4 to 7 seconds and then release the button and depress it for the next shot and so on.

Click to expand...

Sound's good.

KENTGA said:

9. If the shot is very bright, you may get some blinkies, but I shoot RAW + JPEG and I can adjust the blinkies.

Click to expand...

Raw helps, always, but you can go without and still get good shots.

KENTGA said:

10. You'll love the results.

Click to expand...

I've gotten good results from 1/60th to 15 seconds, and from f/2 to f/16, so the range where you can get good results is quite a lot wider than the recommendations are suggesting. I even get good results from my compact with the right settings.

Here's a shot from my compact at 1.6 seconds, f/5.6 and ISO 80:



And here's one taken with my 5D and 1/40th, f/2.8 and ISO 200:



--
Lee Jay
(see profile for equipment)

cool thanks!

I mostly agree with the OP's suggestions (and the Adorama video)

Lee Jay said:

Lee Jay said:

2. Set aperture to f/10

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to start with f8 on 7d / crop camera.

Lee Jay said:

Lee Jay said:

3. Set ISO to 100

Click to expand...

Yep. Well, mostly.

Lee Jay said:

4. Use a tripod

Click to expand...

Well, there are cases where you can shoot fast exposure in the 1/10th to 1/60th range, in which case you might not need one. But, yeah, most of the time a tripod is a good way to go.

Lee Jay said:

5. Use a cable release

Click to expand...

Or a timer, or an IR release.

Click to expand...

I'd avoid a timer. Most are 2 and 10 seconds, so your timing has to be careful.

With a timer, another way to control shutter exposure duration is with your hand in front of the lens, or better, a black piece of paper / cardboard / something dark. Start the "effective exposure" by removing the dark obstruction from in front of the lens, and then stop the exposure by putting the obstruction back in front of the lens.

But "bulb" works well with remote release.

Lee Jay said:

Lee Jay said:

6. Use the widest angle lens you have and set to as wide as you have

Click to expand...

That's not a good suggestion. I have a 15mm fisheye. Last Wednesday I was quite a ways away and needed closer to 50mm equivalent to properly frame. As always, the best focal length is the one that gives you proper framing.

Click to expand...

I think it is good advice to start wide, and then adjust as the evening progresses. Modern cameras has so much resolution that I'd be inclined to frame generously, and figure to crop in post processing.

Something to experiment with ... zoom-during-exposure?

Lee Jay said:

Lee Jay said:

7. Set to manual focus and turn to infinity and then back off slightly. I used a Canon 10-22 and set mine to the left of the infinity scale where the line makes a 90 degree turn.

Click to expand...

Also bad. Different lenses are different. Instead, use the focusing system to focus on the first firework that goes off. Switch to manual and shoot another to verify that things are good.

Click to expand...

On many lenses, especially zooms, the infinity mark isn't particularly accurate. It can definitely be different at different focal lengths. My practice is to focus on a bright object about 200+ yards away with magnified LiveView.

However, with f8 to f11 and wide angle, focus isn't too critical. You can use the hyperfocal distance and probably be fine. BTW: I prefer the "advanced DOF calculator" at Cambridge-in-Color over the DofMaster website calculator.

Lee Jay said:

Lee Jay said:

8. Most of my shots were 4 to 7 seconds. When you see the fireworks going from the stage, depress the shutter and keep it depressed until the fireworks fizzle and others start---- usually 4 to 7 seconds and then release the button and depress it for the next shot and so on.

Click to expand...

Sound's good.

Lee Jay said:

9. If the shot is very bright, you may get some blinkies, but I shoot RAW + JPEG and I can adjust the blinkies.

Click to expand...

Raw helps, always, but you can go without and still get good shots.

Click to expand...

RAW strongly advised. That also helps with white balance adjustment later.

Normally, you'd leave the shutter speed alone with fireworks ... long exposure or bulb ... and adjust ISO or f-stop. The typical practice with "blinkies" is to increase exposure until "blinkies" show, then reduce exposure 1/3 to 2/3 stop.

However, there is so much dynamic range in fireworks, especially as the evening darkens, that you may have to tolerate some "blinkies" in the brightest bursts. Otherwise, you can lose some of the subtle blues and greens.

With Canon DSLR's and MagicLantern, you can use "RAW Blinkies" and "RAW Histogram" for better accuracy, rather than a LCD display based on the JPEG engine.

Lee Jay said:

Lee Jay said:

10. You'll love the results.

Click to expand...

I've gotten good results from 1/60th to 15 seconds, and from f/2 to f/16, so the range where you can get good results is quite a lot wider than the recommendations are suggesting. I even get good results from my compact with the right settings.

Click to expand...

I've found it surprisingly easy to get reasonable results with fireworks. It was much harder back in film days when you didn't know how they turned out until later. Now, you get immediate feedback from the LCD.

It gets more challenging as your expectations go up. Are you satisfied with just silhouettes for the foreground, or do you want just a hint of detail in the crowd and/or horizon?

Note that the preferred settings can change as the evening progresses. It may be mid-dusk when the fireworks start, and deep dusk or night when they conclude. A full or new or quarter moon can make a difference.

I don't do much compositing, but firework images are good candidates for composites with layers. HDR can work well.

I have had good luck with shooting from the top of a 4 story parking garage with a clear sight line to the fireworks and city skyline 2 miles away. In this situation I am shooting with my 70-200 f/4 at 70mm, f/8 to f11, ISO 100, 2 to 5 sec. My shutter speed can be easily set up to 30 sec, so I haven't used "bulb", but that is a good idea for maximum flexibility. I have typically shot an immediately pre-fireworks frame or two to get an idea about best background exposure, then when fireworks begin, shoot individual 2 sec shots, 4 sec shots, etc to check timing and intensity of fireworks, then shoot in earnest in groups of a particular shutter speed. I am considering trying to use a strong ND filter and let the background go to near-black in order to "collect" several launches worth of fireworks in one frame - it may not work, unless the launch interval is very short. The launch venue is different this year, and my shooting site and lens use will be quite different - wide angle with both ornamental tiny lake and fountain and the fireworks in one wide angle field. There are three days of fireworks, I will find something that will work and won't have a million people walking by my lens. I likely will set up on a hill side.

Thanks for the bump

l_d_allan said:

l_d_allan wrote:
I don't do much compositing, but firework images are good candidates for composites with layers.

Click to expand...

MagicLantern's Dual_ISO. Six images composited q/d. Dark night sky covers a multitude of sins




Buds in crowd in early dusk



[ATTACH alt="Perhaps "highest concentration" of actual fireworks in 'real time" "]3905[/ATTACH]
Perhaps "highest concentration" of actual fireworks in 'real time"