Tucson Fireworks

bgarland

I took these from my roof last night. It's a mix from a couple different displays around the neighborhood. I was OK with how they turned out but I think next year I might reduce the exposure time a bit to help crisp up the details. These were all about 4 second exposures.

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Dogdots

#8 is my favorite

Thwack

Were you shooting handheld or is the jitter in some of the shots just due to having to zoom so far (the EXIF data on some says 200mm so it wouldn't take much to wiggle the image).

Did you use a remote shutter release or did you have to hold the camera's shutter down by hand?

It makes an interesting effect in the long stems of #2.

Exposure time might not be the first thing to tinker with if you want crisper shots next time. Moving in closer so you don't have to zoom so much is the first thing I'd want to change.

I shot a bunch Saturday night at even longer exposure times. You can see some examples here: http://digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=171796

bgarland

Thwack wrote: »

Were you shooting handheld or is the jitter in some of the shots just due to having to zoom so far (the EXIF data on some says 200mm so it wouldn't take much to wiggle the image).

Did you use a remote shutter release or did you have to hold the camera's shutter down by hand?

It makes an interesting effect in the long stems of #2.

Exposure time might not be the first thing to tinker with if you want crisper shots next time. Moving in closer so you don't have to zoom so much is the first thing I'd want to change.

I shot a bunch Saturday night at even longer exposure times. You can see some examples here: http://digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=171796

Good points. Do you mean the firework trails are supposed to be straight?

Getting closer would be the key. I was using a tripod and remote shutter release but I was up on the roof and it was windy so I'm sure I was getting vibrations. I was using my 70-200 zoomed out to 200M on many of the shots. I had IS turned off since it was on the tripod. I wonder if IS would have helped or not?

The displays were almost a mile away in different directions. Maybe next year I'll just pick one and get properly set up.

Thanks for the input. I have learned so much in the last year but I have a long way to go on my journey. At least the squiggles add an interesting effect.

Thwack

The squiggles are really cool.

IS shouldn't help since you were on a tripod. Supposedly, it can add vibration when you're using a tripod. Might be cool to try it on purpose.

We only had one show to pick from and I love being close enough to hear the shells sizzle on their way up to bursting height. Our show are is surrounded by hills so the sound of the shells bursting gets bounced back several times - feels like we're watching in surround-sound.

Thanks for sharing your pics and the extra info.