What Camera Settings for Fireworks?
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 6,814
Likes: 3
From: Hou. TX.
What Camera Settings for Fireworks? Hey guys, I plan to catch some fireworks tomorrow night. Have a canon 20D d-slr with 70-300 lens. Should I use that lens or an 18-55? Am I going to need a tripod? Hope not as the lights don't last very long. Manual focus? Maybe increase the ISO? I'm lost as I have nothing like fireworks to practice shooting.
Any help would be appreciated.
Any help would be appreciated.
The lens you bring really depends on how close you will be to the fireworks. If the fireworks are going to be more or less above your head, I'd bring the 18-55 and leave the 70-300; in fact, the 70-300 might be a little too long unless the fireworks are across town. You will definitely need to bring a tripod, as your shutter speeds will be too slow and your pictures will be blurry.
Here's what my friend would do to set up for the shoot:
After that, shooting fireworks comes down to timing and luck. Here are the camera settings my friend recommends:
The goal here is to have the camera shutter open when the fireworks explode, so set a slow shutter speed (2-8 seconds) and press the trigger when the firework is going up. The shutter should stay open long enough to get the firework exploding, and close before it fades and gets boring.
You can see my friend's fireworks gallery from last year at http://cy.d3fx.com/gallery/v/chend/050704-fireworks/
Here's what my friend would do to set up for the shoot:
- Find a nice spot that allows a clear view of the show where you can sit or lay down.
- Set up the tripod so that the camera is above your head and you can easily look through the viewfinder.
- The first set of fireworks will probably start and you won't get any sort of warning, so use it to adjust the focus and focal length (zoom) on your lens. Once the camera is focused, flip the switch on the lens to manual focus and leave it there.
After that, shooting fireworks comes down to timing and luck. Here are the camera settings my friend recommends:
- ISO 400
- Camera mode: Tv (Shutter priority or Time value)
The goal here is to have the camera shutter open when the fireworks explode, so set a slow shutter speed (2-8 seconds) and press the trigger when the firework is going up. The shutter should stay open long enough to get the firework exploding, and close before it fades and gets boring.
You can see my friend's fireworks gallery from last year at http://cy.d3fx.com/gallery/v/chend/050704-fireworks/
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 6,814
Likes: 3
From: Hou. TX.
OK, thanks guys.
If I raise the ISO I can reduce the shutter speed some, but raising the ISO may also add a small amount of graininess, correct?
If I can hit the shutter button as the package goes upward, I think the camera may move a little on the black sky, but be clear when it actually explodes. Is this logical or will the smoke from the previous explosion get blurred and make the image not good.
I need to look through the manual, but is there a 0.5 to 1 second delay that can be set on the shutter? That may work, because I don't have a remote of any kind.
I'm a newb at this.
If I raise the ISO I can reduce the shutter speed some, but raising the ISO may also add a small amount of graininess, correct?
If I can hit the shutter button as the package goes upward, I think the camera may move a little on the black sky, but be clear when it actually explodes. Is this logical or will the smoke from the previous explosion get blurred and make the image not good.
I need to look through the manual, but is there a 0.5 to 1 second delay that can be set on the shutter? That may work, because I don't have a remote of any kind.
I'm a newb at this.
Last edited by JasonWW; Jul 3, 2006 at 06:58 PM.
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 113
Likes: 0
From: Calgary, AB, Canada
Yes, a delay would work great. I've done that with my D70s, put a 2 second delay on the shutter. Works well.
The higher the ISO, the grainier it will be, yes. I can't stand anything more than 800.
The higher the ISO, the grainier it will be, yes. I can't stand anything more than 800.
The ISO completely depends on the camera and lens. On my Nikon, the noise isn't really a problem until about ISO 800 (sometimes lower dependingon the light). I had an older Canon (non-dSLR) that anything above iso 200 was incredibly grainy. You can also do some simple post-processing to clean up the graininess on the images (using photoshop, gimp, or noise ninja).
