Article On Shooting Fireworks

saurora

Since the 4th of July is just around the corner I thought you might be interested in an article I received (in an e-mail) which was written by a Nikon Senior Technical Manager on how he shoots firework displays. Has some good general information, but of special interest is the last paragraph on his use of a black card to "settle" the camera before exposing. I had never heard of this. Thought you might be interested.

http://www.nikonnet.com/dyn/articles/article_detail/227.html

(Forgive me if this link doesn't work, it's giving me fits, or my browser is, I'm not sure which!!!)

rallymaniac

good tips, thanx for that

Antonio Correia

Good ideia to share these kind of information. :

spudjer

saurora wrote:

Since the 4th of July is just around the corner I thought you might be interested in an article I received (in an e-mail) which was written by a Nikon Senior Technical Manager on how he shoots firework displays. Has some good general information, but of special interest is the last paragraph on his use of a black card to "settle" the camera before exposing. I had never heard of this. Thought you might be interested.

http://www.nikonnet.com/dyn/articles/article_detail/227.html

(Forgive me if this link doesn't work, it's giving me fits, or my browser is, I'm not sure which!!!)

Thanx for the article. I have used the "black card" technique to shoot lightning in the past, open shutter towards portion of sky where lightning was occurring and wait for a burst. Then return card to close shutter. Never thought about applying the technique to fireworks, but will try this year.

Sweet!!

wxwax

Here's anoither piece with some very good advice on how to shoot fireworks.

I've only tried it once, and I bombed. I think I kept my shuuter open for too long on each shot.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-photograph-fireworks/

RatPhoto

The tendency is thinking you need to either use higher ISO or open up the aperture since it is dark. Big mistake.

Basically, the sparks that make up the fireworks are pretty bright and it is easy to blow them out. Use a pretty slow ISO (even 100 instead of the 200 mentioned) and close down the glass until you aren't blowing the fireworks out. The f/11 mentioned is reasonable and will depend on factors like how far away from them you actually are.

Another article here:

http://www.nyip.com/tips/current/firewks.php

wxwax

Like shooting the moon.

schmoe

Black Card
I've used something similar and it works rather well. I used it when I had me Sony 707 shooting my kid's fireworks. I didn't have a remote release, so I would set the exposure for 15 - 20 seconds, hold the cap over the front of the lens when I triggered the shutter and uncover it for my guess of 2 - 3 seconds and cover it back up. Sometimes I would experiment with cover and uncovering it multiple times to get different effects. Like disconnected spark trails.