Fireworks

[Fishjump]

My home overlooks the SF Giant's ballpark, and I believe they will be having a firework display immediately following the game.

I should have planned this better, as I am entertaining a client to dinner. However, on the off chance of making it home in time, can anyone offer me some advice as to exposure times I might bracket around? White balance setting?

Thanks,

Paul.

 

[MikeR]

most impotant thing is to use a tripod and have the shutter open for a few seconds (or even min.s)

 

[Fishjump]

Thanks for tip Mike, but I was too late.

Next time,

Paul.

 

[greyflash]

For future reference you might want to put your aperature at f16 and then when you are ready open the shutter on bulb (time exposure), cover the lens with a piece of black matboard and remove it a couple of times as the fireworks go off. Push the shutter again to close it. Now of course all of this supposes that you have a tripod.

 

[BigPixel]

Try this. Its similar to Gordon's advice but you won't have to mess with matt board and it works every time. Got it off the New York School of Photography website many moons ago:

ISO 100
Set shutter to Bulb
Manual mode
f8-f16
Open at start of burst / Close at peak (just keep the cable release open a few secs)

Tripod & cable release of course.

It may sound counter intuitive in that you're shooting a low ISO and using a long shutter but it works well. You'll get brilliant bursts on jet black backgrounds with no noise.

 

[Fishjump]

Thanks for the tips Gordon and HulaMike, I'll be certain to try these.

This reminds of many years ago taking photo's of traffic lights, and achieving the effect of having all the lights on, using slide film.

Regards,

Paul.

 

[BigPixel]

Q for Mods: Why not make posts like this stickeys? We get the same question every 4th of July and New Years.