Post your fireworks pics

[Analogy]

Happy 4th of July everybody. Hopefully somebody here went to a professional fireworks display and got some cool pictures. I went out to a barbecue in a park that couldn’t see any good displays so we contented ourselves with our own homebrew demonstration.

This was like 8 firecrackers wired together. Totally awesome. And loud.

Aerial fireworks are illegal in Minnesota. I’M A FUGITIVE FROM THE LAW.

[swampa]

Love the 8 cracker photo.

I wish we did things like that over here!

/Going through Canberra in October, might have to pick up some then 😀

[caradoc]

Oh, wait…

[monkeybort]

heh

i’ll try to get some up tonight; not sure how they came out yet. They actually ended up going off 180 degrees from where we (and everyone else) expected them to, so i didn’t have the greatest sightline. we’ll see.

[3Horn]

caradoc, those are amazing what lens/settings did you use?

I was using my new 50mm 1.8 for the first time, and accidentally left my tripod at home, and had to hand-shoot. A few came out decent., but nothing compared to yours.

[caradoc]

caradoc, those are amazing what lens/settings did you use?

I was using the Nikon kit lens, 18-135mm, set to 18mm (widest it’ll go), and varying between f/5 and f/11 for exposures between 2 seconds and 10 seconds each, on a Manfrotto 3001N tripod with a Bogen 3265 head on it.

The sweet spot seems to be f/5 for five seconds for most of what I was shooting.

The exposure for the fireworks themselves is based on aperture, since they’re a point-source of light, and they’re constantly in motion. So dragging the shutter is only going to affect how long the trails are and how many bursts you capture in a given exposure.

Rule of thumb: any exposure that’s longer than 1/30, I’ll either use a tripod or brace the camera on something that isn’t moving. Also, any exposure longer than 1/focal length, same rule. So, if I were shooting with the zoom out at 135mm, but needed to shoot 1/60 to get the exposure, I’d be using the tripod.

Before you buy, you’ll want to read Thom Hogan’s article on buying a tripod. I didn’t, and it cost me a lot more than it should have if I’d done it right the first time.

[Snug Tight]

The Sportsman Club here in town is having a display tommorrow night. I can sit in my backyard and see the ones that go over the tree line. I’m going to try and get some shots then.

Here is one I took at my brother in laws a few years ago.

[Jakevol2]

I’m having problems posting pics to here.

[Jakevol2]

here we go

[Jakevol2]

I call this one Jungle Flower.

[Jakevol2]

last one

I call this one Popping the Champange Cork.

[Elsinore]

Ooo I really like that last one, Jakevol2.

Our neighbors shoot off a bunch of fireworks all around us every year, so we typically have a decent show from our back deck all for free 😉 I might get some more shots at a cookout this weekend, too, but these were from Wednesday night:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lady_elsinore/727091987

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lady_elsinore/727920720/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lady_elsinore/727920886/

More here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lady_elsinore/sets/72157600662230771/detail/

[caradoc]

I really like #3 there, Elsinore.

[powerplantgirl]

Yeah, compared to you guys, my fireworks suck!

Oh, and these were a couple of weeks ago.

[Elsinore]

What the hell are you talking about? Those blow mine out of the water!

[Author]

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