Fireworks Displays

jockwav

jockwav

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James (Retired)
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I have only ever tried shooting fireworks once & that was a few years ago in edinburgh.
I was very dissapointed with the results after trekking up arthur seat with a tripod,wet feet,cold,vowed i would not do that again.
I would like to have another go this year but it wont be edinburgh we have moved house to ayrshire.
I have been reading a lot on the subject & this one caught my eye,is there an easy explanation about square root?.:shrug:

"The square root rule really does work nicely. Come on, it's not rocket science - if you're using ISO 100 use something around f/10, if you're using ISO 64, use something around f/8, if you're using ISO 200 (assuming you can't get lower) use something round f/14. You don't have to be accurate. It's a ball park figure."
 
Well I don't know about the square root rule but this one that I took had the following settings and I maintained those settings for the rest of the firework shoot.

Exposure 20
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

6116696500_ac667e3ec5_b_d.jpg


P.S as a long exposure was used I did the black card technique to prevent the explosions from over exposing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for your reply Stuart,that looks fine to me,maybe i will just take note of other peoples settings & try them out.:thumbs:
 
That rule (first I've heard of it) puts you fairly consistently around 8 seconds at EV3.. interesting because Stuart's photograph is also shot at roughly EV3 but with a longer shutter speed. The shutter speed will determine how much of the fireworks is captured in each shot, as a function of the frequency and density of the display.

If you look at table B here (notice that table A gives EV3 for fireworks), you can look down the table from your chosen ISO until you find EV3, then reading across will give you all the apertures and shutters speeds to get that exposure.
 
It's trial and error really.
Before that particular show I got there early and fired off some test shots for the surrounding detail and then figured in a change of shutter speed to accommodate the fireworks themselves.
 
Stuart, sorry if this is a basic question, but what's the black card technique?
 
Thanks for that Alastair,will have a look at that,yep it will probably be trial & error for me.:)
The only problem i see is there won,t be a great deal of time to experiment on the night.:)
 
Leslie said:
Stuart, sorry if this is a basic question, but what's the black card technique?
Click to expand...

No such thing as a basic question.
Basically the black card technique is literally that.

It's a piece of black card that you pass in front of the lens a few times during long exposures of fireworks.
It has a two fold effect of being able to catch multiple explosions in one shot but without over exposing the shot due to a mass of bright light.
 
i tend to stick to F14 @ iso 100 and hold the remote down when the firework goes 'up' and let go when its finished going bang.. .usually 3 - 6 seconds...
 
i did southport this year over 3 nights
i was shooting around f8 and about 2 to 4 seconds iso 100. these settings were fine for Ariel only shots and shots with foreground interest including crowds
i shoot in manual mode. the meter will probably show underexposure but you should be fine, you can tell if shutter speed is ok by just checking the screen
best to focus in auto till it locks on to a firework then switch to manual mode
start with above settings and you wil be fine, although having said that if its normal home style fireworks (not a big professional one) you may need to cover the lens with card in-between explosions . as home displays are not as consistent as pro ones
 
I've heard of setting the camera to bulb mode, hold down the button on a remote cable and then letting go when you've captured what you want.

This method also works for lightning (so I've read).
 
Dale_d3100 said:
I've heard of setting the camera to bulb mode, hold down the button on a remote cable and then letting go when you've captured what you want.
Click to expand...

using bulb would create a great big overexposed mess, unless you cover the lens in-between shots, best to experiment with between 1 and 4 seconds and keep checking screen
 
You can do 1 to 4 seconds using bulb, it just allows you to choose how long on the fly
 
I have read that many posts about shooting fireworks over the last month or so my head is about to burst,maybe to much reading on the matter just causes more confusion.:D:lol:
 
Cheers Michael.:thumbs:
 
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