Taking firework pictures-what settings to use

[bassett1976]

Hello All,

I'm still getting used to being a "real" photographer. I usually use the basic settings on my Canon Rebel Digital 8 mp. I would like to get some advice from you professional photographers around here.

First, what settings do you use for the fireworks?
Second, for those that have the Canon Rebel, how do you change over to those settings on your own? This will help me find the best way to take pictures.

I know the best thing is to get a good spot and set up a tripod but I want to get some really great pictures on our summer WDW trip. I'll be able to use the next few months to try and get some great firework shots at DL for practice.

Thank you in advance.

[RU42]

If you really want to get serious I would suggest getting a nice 1.4f 50mm lens. You will want the focus to be on manual set to infinity. Autofocus is extremely tough with firework shots.

This leaves just 2 more items you can adjust: shutter and ISO.

A high ISO number (1600) helps in very dark situations. The trade off is grain. If the final usage of the photo is screen then you can get away with the high ISO. If you are going to print, then the grain could become a challenge. I find reducing the image helps eliminate some of the grain, but not all of it.

That then leaves shutter. If you are hand held I would not suggest anything less then 1/15 and even that is tough. I would suggest try 1/30 and see how you do.

Personally, I would suggest no higher then maybe 1/60 because I like to see trials in fireworks shots rather then stop-action. But that is a personal preference.

The biggest thing is to experiment. Try 5 shots with one setting, switch to a different setting, shoot another 5, etc, etc. Then when you get home you can decide what you like.

RU

[andrewilley]

Hmm, I think my advice is going to go against some of what RU42 has said (sorry!!!)

First, a tripod is really a MUST for fireworks photos. Without one, you won't be able to hold the camera steady enough to get anything more than an instant glimpse of a section of the firework burst, which will just come out as small sparks of light rather than the long trails that make fireworks pictures so appealing and involving. To get those trails, you'll need to shoot using much longer MANUAL exposure times to allow the firework burst to traverse across the sky a bit - hence the need for a tripod. And a remote release too (I used a Canon RC-1 infrared remote last week at WDW, but maybe a cable version might have been a bit easier as the sensor is on the front of the Digital Rebel XT camera, so you have to lean over the top a bit).

Exposure times vary depending on what exact effect you want, but I guess somewhere around 1/4" to as much as 4" would be times to experiment with. Another trick is to use Blub exposure, open the shutter when you hear the firework burst has fired and close it again when the effect you want to capture has completed. This only works if you are shooting "sky-only" photos though, if you want to get foreground images in the shot too (e.g. the castle) you'll need to work out an exposure time that gives a decent exposure level for that too.

F-stop again varies, don't go too low as you won't be able to keep the fireworks and foreground images in focus. Maybe 5.6 with 100 ISO, or as high as 8, 11 or 16 with higher ISO settings? Again, exposing objects such as the castle will impact on this setting too. The Rebel is very good at high ISO shooting, but even so it's not perfect - so try to avoid ISO 800/1600 unless you really need to for indooor low-light work. Fireworks are actually pretty bright (although the night sky between them is dark, which can mess up automatic readings) so you don't need a high ISO setting.

Also, bear in mind too that firework brightness varies - Disney fire off some lovely red or blue one that are much darker than the massive white "fill the sky" bursts (such as near the end of Illuminations ROE at Epcot). So exposure settings that are right for the subtle colours will just burn out with the "finale" bursts. Lots of experimentation is the answer - if you're anything like me, you'll have just about got it worked out by the time you go home! :-)

A few other things to remember:
* Try to get to know the show timings, so you know when to be ready to snap
* Use Manual focus, set to infinity (or very close to it, anyway)
* Turn off any Image Stabilisation options on your lens, they're useless with a tripod
* Keep the preview hold time on the LCD screen to a short setting so you're ready for the next shot quicker
* Watch out for wind drift, it can blur longer exposures
* Make use of the Rebel's noise reduction setting for long exposures (it's in the Custom Settings section)
* Use a big memory card and keep taking pictures! Lots of them! It's digital, it doesn't cost you anything. So you got 150 useless shots? Just delete them later and keep those four fabulous ones that make you look like a pro. You can then find out what settings you used for the best ones ready for next time (check the EXIF data).

When you do get to WDW, a perfect place for fireworks photos in the Magic Kingdom is the small circular area with a tree in the middle about half-way along the path between the Attractions Tip board on Main Street and the Crystal Palace Restaurant (just behind the Casey's Corner hotdog shop). You can easily set up a tripod there next to the fence so there's no one in front of you - chose a location that gets a perfect view with the castle between the trees, maybe showing the reflection in the water infront? The fireworks will be fully visible, very slightly to the left of the castle rather than being obscured behind it.

http://www.visionsfantastic.com/forum/gallery/files/12677-MKFireworks2756scaled.jpg
(shot at f4.5, 1.6 seconds, ISO 400)

I was a bit less successful shooting Illuminations at Epcot by the way (too many fireworks at once, and too much fire and other stuff happening on the lake itself). I guess this is one of the better ones:

http://www.visionsfantastic.com/forum/gallery/files/12677-EpcotFireworks1605scaled.jpg
(shot at f5.0, 0.8 seconds, ISO 100)

There are several sites giving lots of good fireworks advice from Pros. Have a search around, or start off by trying:

http://calphoto.com/firework.htm
http://photo2.si.edu/firew/firew.html
http://www.nyip.com/tips/current/firewks.php

Finally, as a very helpful CM in the Epcot photo centre told me, fireworks are HARD to photograph well. He said that even some well-known professionals who shoot at WDW who just can't seem to get it right. So just keep trying, and don't be afraid to ignore everyone's advice (apart from the tripod bit!) and experiment with your own settings too.

Have fun, and please share your results with us!

Andre

[RU42]

The wonderful thing about photography, many different roads to the same end. Again, experiment is key.

I wrote from the standpoint of my tripod. I just reread your initial message and could not determine if you will or will not have one. If you still considering it, I would highly recommend a tripod. It will allow for a greater range of shooting options. And if you do have a tripod, an intrared remote is a must.

RU

[k_peek_2000]

There is a new camera out that has some sort of technology that takes takes pictures the very moment that it is taken at unlike it being like a matter of miliseconds. So would that mean no more annoying colored lines and actual fireballs?

[andrewilley]

There is a new camera out that has some sort of technology that takes takes pictures the very moment that it is taken at unlike it being like a matter of miliseconds. So would that mean no more annoying colored lines and actual fireballs?

Um... Sorry? The coloured lines are the fireworks. If you didn't have them, you'd just see a few pinpoint specs of light at any one instant in time, which would look like a very starry sky rather than a fireworks show. The trails show the path that the fireworks take over a second or so of the display.

If you just want pinpoints, set a nice fast shutter speed, a high ISO and a low f-stop on any half-decent camera. You could even hand-hold the camera if you want. But it would look very bland.

If you're talking about shutter response time, a lot of digital cameras have a nasty lag between the moment you press the button and the time the photo is actually taken - which makes fast action photography a nightmare. My Digital Rebel is really good in that respect (as, I suspect, are most modern digital SLRs)

Andre

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And a few more castle fireworks pics in case they're of interest (now I've found out why I was getting errors with uploading pics - they were too big at 800 pixels tall)


http://www.visionsfantastic.com/forum/gallery/files/12677-MKFireworks2777scaled.jpg
(f5.0, 1.6 seconds, ISO 400, 28mm)


http://www.visionsfantastic.com/forum/gallery/files/12677-MKFireworks2773scaled.jpg
(f5.0, 1.6 seconds, ISO 400, 28mm)


http://www.visionsfantastic.com/forum/gallery/files/12677-MKFireworks2763scaled.jpg
(f4.5, 1.6 seconds, ISO 400, 26mm)