Photo tips for Firework concert

[jimothy]

I'm off to Leeds Castle tomorrow for their annual firework/classical music concert and I'm thinking of trying to roll off a few snaps of the event.

I guess the best way to capture the fireworks is set to a long exposure, say 30s or so, and leave it going, then adjust and retry based on the results. Will this work? Anyone got any tips?

Thanks.

[ehasler]

Yep, you'll need a longish exposure, but not so long that you blow out any other objects in the scene like buildings in the background.

If you're shooting digital then it's easy to experiment, but holding the shutter open from 5-10 seconds upwards is a good starting point.

Another tip is to hold a dark piece of paper/card over the lens while the shutter is open, but inbetween fireworks to minimise any stray light getting in.

That's how I did this one anyway

[Gemm]

You'll need a solid tripod and a cable release. Bulb works the best. Use a black card to cover the lens when there's no fireworks, then remove it as they are set off. Try to include something on the ground level (e.g. stage and/or audience - I find images with fireworks alone are quite boring), then time for the correct exposure. It's kind of fun messing about with the setting.

[speedychrissie]

ehasler said:

Another tip is to hold a dark piece of paper/card over the lens while the shutter is open, but inbetween fireworks to minimise any stray light getting in.

thats quite a cool tip. wouldnt have thought of that.

[speedychrissie]

Gemm said:

You'll need a solid tripod and a cable release.

just thinking about this:
if you dont have a remote release then you could always cover the lens with the piece of card when you press the shutter release and then remove it a second later which should give the same results.

[crmcatee]

Take a long lens for about 8pm.


If it's anything like last weekend there was a Spitfire flypast which must have spent about five minutes pulling up, banking etc all above the crowd / castle..

Have fun...

[Gemm]

speedychrissie said:

Gemm said:

You'll need a solid tripod and a cable release.

just thinking about this:
if you dont have a remote release then you could always cover the lens with the piece of card when you press the shutter release and then remove it a second later which should give the same results.

Possibly, but you need a cable release to lock the shutter in bulb mode. You might as well use a 2 sec timer if you are not using bulb.

[speedychrissie]

Gemm said:

speedychrissie said:

Gemm said:

You'll need a solid tripod and a cable release.

just thinking about this:
if you dont have a remote release then you could always cover the lens with the piece of card when you press the shutter release and then remove it a second later which should give the same results.

Possibly, but you need a cable release to lock the shutter in bulb mode. You might as well use a 2 sec timer if you are not using bulb.

good point

[_dobbo_]

This one was six seconds, if you time it right you don't need any clever tricks...


ed's is better though...

[jimothy]

Thanks for all the tips everyone - just about to post the results!