Firework Photography. How?

Snipet

Snipet

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Gareth
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Hiya guys and girls,
Gunwharf Quays down in Portsmouth is haveing a big firework display on friday evening, (and as I work down there and finish before they start) i was thinking of trying something new photography wise for me and try to capture them.
My kit is
  • Canon 50D
  • Canon 17-85mm
  • Canon 70-300mm
  • Sigma 105mm
  • Tripod
  • Shutter Remote

Was thinking i would be best with the 17-85mm on the camera, but not sure what settings to use to get the best results. And I don't want to miss the whole display messing around trying to find what works.
Any info or tips on this would be really appreciated and alot of help.
 
BandyQuill said:
set your focus to manual, set it to about 5-10 seconds exposure and onto continuous, should give some pretty good results. :)
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So use the first few going off to get the focus right in manual, or use autofocus to get focus first then switch to manual?
 
if your shooting on "bulb"take a piece of black card with you to put in front of the lens between fireworks, that way you can get multiple fireworks in the same shot without unwanted light entering
 
BandyQuill said:
i generally set it to manual then manually focus to infinity, but that has come with experience and generally knowing where the fireworks are going to go, using a wide lens will give some good results and make focusing easier :) ill try and find out some more info when i get home

(just trying to pass an hour at work now)
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Kool, cheers for that.
Slow day at work i take it. :LOL:

daza said:
I should be paying a trip on Friday weather permitting.

From what I've read its infinity focus, F8 ish and around iso 200 but some more reading might be needed.
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Thanks for the extra info. The show should be good, they usually put some effort into it.
I finish work at 6 and it starts about 7ish i think, so its gonna be a mad rush to get somewhere decent and set up for when it starts. :bonk:
 
Been a couple of years ago ............ without the camera.

Will be making the trek this year as the islands shows aren't that good, I'm aiming for some space on gosport pier will be there from around 5ish to get some pre shots as I lost the last set I did due to a dodgy CF card :-(
 
bigave said:
if your shooting on "bulb"take a piece of black card with you to put in front of the lens between fireworks, that way you can get multiple fireworks in the same shot without unwanted light entering
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I thought id heard that said somewhere, I might "borrrow" some from work and try that out to. Thanks for the tip on that one.
 
daza said:
Been a couple of years ago ............ without the camera.

Will be making the trek this year as the islands shows aren't that good, I'm aiming for some space on gosport pier will be there from around 5ish to get some pre shots as I lost the last set I did due to a dodgy CF card :-(
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Was planning on going over to the gosport side to, but dont think ill get anywhere near somewhere to photograph from after 6pm. it'll be packed :shake:
 
My advice is not to get too close to the action. You'll have people knocking into your tripod and you'll need to angle your lens upwards and will get neck ache. Let all the crowd get close and you should stick towards the back. Also, wide open, you'll get more in your picture which will make it more interesting than just having sky/fireworks.

A Q re: the black card...I've also heard this and I understand the theory, it's just knowing whether to hover the card in front off the lens or to actually touch the lens? If touching, isn't there a risk of moving the camera / blurring the picture?
 
from what i remember reading last year a couple of tips were to get yourself in a position where the smoke is blowing away from you.
and you can get good results from trying to get up high and look down on the entire firework scene
 
Hmm, now considering I work down at Gunwharf, you'd think I'd know when they were gonna start. Just double checked and they start at 7.45pm. Now I'm thinking that going over to the Gosport side is achievable in time and is the better site photo wise so I can get in Gunwharf and the spiniker tower.
 

IMG_0688 by s_a_h, on Flickr

Took this (and others) a couple of years ago. Was a fair distance away and had a 70-200mm lens at 190mm focused to infinity. Aperture was set to f11 and exposure was in bulb mode. This one was exposed for 4 seconds, but it was largely guesswork. Some came out good others not.

If you're gonna be fairly close I'd go as wide as you can, let the first few go off so you get a rough idea where the action is and then fire away. Think the 5-10 second exposure is right but leave it too long and you'll probably have captured many going off. Also if its windy there will be quite a lot of drift.

Hope it works out well for you.
 
Personally I find the thing that works best with fireworks shots is some sort of interest/scale in the shot. Don't get me wrong a firework in the sky is nice, but I think it just works a ton more if you can get something else in there (and I don't really mean peoples heads, as they will tend to move). Sadly it is never too easy.

I dont know where you are talking about, but Quay sounds watery, so I would go for some reflections. Some of my fav fireworks shots I have ever got were at Southport shooting over the water http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_holmes/2918482343/

Other tips above all seem good, though I never bother with card at events like this as the fireworks tend to come thick and fast. Also bare in mind that they do go damn high, so wide could be very useful if you are reasonably close. That shot above was 11mm and the fireworks were a good old distance away (but then I needed wide to get the reflection).

Only other thing I would say is dont get too engrossed in the shots, enjoy the fireworks yourself too :p dont spend the whole time with you face in the viewfinder. :p
 
This is a shot from Xmas from around the area I am gonna try and get back to over in Gosport:
163033_1749417302328_1445723170_31900127_3351561_n.jpg


I am thinking a similar shot with some fireworks could be a nice pic, this was taken with a 70-300mm so lots of area to get reflections with, with a wide lens.
Plus the tower is going to be changing colours all night so should get the tower looking different between shots to.
 
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Here's a firework shot I caught for the end of festival show in Edinburgh
As Jimmy Lemon has said, some sort of detail aswell as the firework itself in the shot goes a long way

6116696500_ac667e3ec5_b_d.jpg

photostream
 
Snipet said:
This is a shot from Xmas from around the area I am gonna try and get back to over in Gosport:
163033_1749417302328_1445723170_31900127_3351561_n.jpg


I am thinking a similar shot with some fireworks could be a nice pic.
Plus the tower is going to be changing colours all night so should get the tower looking different between shots to.
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wow in that case you should get some stunning shots :) the trick might be trying to time the shots so the tower doesnt change colour during and exposure. Which reminds me actually, I have found that it is pretty easy to over expose a firework and lose its colour, I think the one I linked to was 8 seconds and that is probably as far as I would push it, but it seems to depend on the fireworks used (in my limited experience)....but worth baring in mind that a 30 second exposure, for example, to capture lots of fireworks could just end up with a lot of white lines all over the shop :)
 
stupar said:
Here's a firework shot I caught for the end of festival show in Edinburgh
As Jimmy Lemon has said, some sort of detail aswell as the firework itself in the shot goes a long way
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Yup! agreed..... and that's a cracking shot btw :clap:
 
Stupar, can you remember what settings you used on that image?
 
Firetographer said:
Stupar, can you remember what settings you used on that image?
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Exif data is linked below image but if my mind serves me well it was
Manual mode
F16
20 seconds
ISO 100
and a piece of black card
 
Thanks for the quick reply, a great shot :)
 
A big thank you for all your help and suggestions, if I get any keepers ill post them in the photography section and the link in here.

Will be good to see everyone else's shots over the festive period to.
 
elphesadente said:
A Q re: the black card...I've also heard this and I understand the theory, it's just knowing whether to hover the card in front off the lens or to actually touch the lens? If touching, isn't there a risk of moving the camera / blurring the picture?
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Anyone, please?
 
elphesadente said:
Anyone, please?
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I wouldnt touch the camera, I have never tried it, but would hold it as close as poss withouth touching. Depends on the shot I guess though, if nothing in the shot but sky and fireworks then it probably wouldnt matter if you put it touching the lens (as long as it doesnt knock the focus) but with other items in the shots any movement could cause you to have blurred/duplicate edges to these.
 
Snipet said:
Hmm, now considering I work down at Gunwharf, you'd think I'd know when they were gonna start. Just double checked and they start at 7.45pm. Now I'm thinking that going over to the Gosport side is achievable in time and is the better site photo wise so I can get in Gunwharf and the spiniker tower.
Click to expand...

I will be down at gosport friday night, sitting on the rocks facing the tower so will see you there, Wind speed meant to be about 6MPH but there is time for that to change
 
For what it is worth I hovered the card about half an inch to an inch in front of the lens
 
Jimmy_Lemon said:
I wouldnt touch the camera, I have never tried it, but would hold it as close as poss withouth touching. Depends on the shot I guess though, if nothing in the shot but sky and fireworks then it probably wouldnt matter if you put it touching the lens (as long as it doesnt knock the focus) but with other items in the shots any movement could cause you to have blurred/duplicate edges to these.
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stupar said:
For what it is worth I hovered the card about half an inch to an inch in front of the lens
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Thanks
 
Must admit, being new to photography I had no idea my self.
Had to look it up and it something to do with after the lens reaches a certain distance for focusing anything after that is done under the infinity bit on the focusing ring.

Or something like that anyway, Lol.
 
I'm not a fan of the black card technique. I think it can look a litle messy with too much going on. For the Spinnaker Tower display i think you'll be best off with F8 ish 5 second ish and iso 200. A wide zoom will also be your best lens. I'll be there on Friday.


Fireworks by Andreas Jones, on Flickr
 
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Daza. If you PM me your number i can meet you there and show you where i go.

If anyone else would like to meet up PM me. I go every year and have tried various locations. At the moment the wind is looking ok.
 
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Gunwarf, local to me i would be interested in meeting you guys there aswell.??
 
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