7 replies to this topic

[bani12]

I have absolutely no idea where to post this and therefore I hope it is ok posting it here

 

These images are nothing special but I thought I post them nonetheless. Because it was my first time shooting fireworks for real, I am open for suggestions.

Shot with d750 and 20mm f1.8 @ f8, iso 200, 6 sec (#1-4) and 5 sec #5.

 

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[Nikonite]

Out of curiosity at the time did the camera indicate overexposure or underexposure? 

[bani12]

I think some of the images were overexposed. I found out that too late, because I was just firing shot afer shot. Should I have used shorter exposure time/lower iso?

[TBonz]

It has been a long time since I've shot fireworks, but in general, a longer exposure tends to show the full burst of the firework with the trails, etc.  Depending on how bright the individual firework is, the exposure length might change as well.  If the images were over exposed and based on the settings you posted, I might have bumped the aperture to F11 or even higher for a bit more DOF and then adjusted the ISO as needed to get the exposure you wanted...It is hard to say without seeing these fireworks but I'm guessing adding another second or more would get a more full burst which might also get you there after bumping the aperture a few stops...

 

All that said, I like the images!

[Nikonite]

I guess it depends on how you want the fireworks to look. Yours pictured at first looked like sparklers to me. If you want them to look like below then your settings are wrong. The below were all taken in shutter priority mode set to 1/60.

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[bani12]

Thanks to both Nikonite and TBonz for your suggestion! I think I have learned something new today

 

@ Nikonite: I was looking for longer exposure fireworks, but you examples are very nice too! I will try your technique next time I get a chance to shoot them, I just don't know when that will be

[Merco_61]

To get more definition in the trails, you could use your base ISO (100) and f/11. This gets rid of the bloom around the trails and the fireworks themselves. If the fireworks are high and there isn't too much light pollution, 5-10 seconds are doable that way. I would try to avoid going further than f/11 with the 24 MP sensor of the D750 as it starts losing contrast because of diffraction somewhere between f/11 and 16 on most lenses.

[Nikonite]

The night I took the above pictures I was working the exposure wheel quite a bit. I purposely set it to underexpose and overexpose, but of course the best pictures were when the camera indicated 0 (zero). That being neutral. No under exposure nor over exposure. Turns out the camera is pretty smart!