what exposure for fireworks?

[weetsie]

i noticed some pretty good firework photos on here and im wondering what a good aperture to start with at say ISO 100 for long exposures?

i would experiment but i am going to be shooting film so i have to get it right first time really.

i have 50, 200 and 400 speed film and a max aperture of f/2.0

thanks

[mark800]

I've been using 100 ISO with F/8, using bulb and a few seconds of exposure, with a tripod. This seems to work quite well.

[weetsie]

thanks, will try the 50 at F/4-6.7 and then the 200 at F/5.6 to see what i end up with

[johnaalex]

Originally Posted by weetsie

thanks, will try the 50 at F/4-6.7 and then the 200 at F/5.6 to see what i end up with

Remember you do not need too shallow a DoF as you will have long exposure times so f8 or f10 are fine. I also use bulb and tend to look for the rockets as they go up, open the shutter count to 3 and then close it. Try and get some fixed reference point in the shot to give it some scale.

Another option is to use a solid bit of card or plastic to cover the lens while you have the shutter open, take the cover out of the way for a couple of seconds to get one shot, put it back in place and then take it away when the next firework goes off - this way you can get multiple fireworks in one shot.

[cherokee1111]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

Another option is to use a solid bit of card or plastic to cover the lens while you have the shutter open, take the cover out of the way for a couple of seconds to get one shot, put it back in place and then take it away when the next firework goes off - this way you can get multiple fireworks in one shot.

thats great advice John, must try that myself.

[weetsie]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

Another option is to use a solid bit of card or plastic to cover the lens while you have the shutter open, take the cover out of the way for a couple of seconds to get one shot, put it back in place and then take it away when the next firework goes off - this way you can get multiple fireworks in one shot.

brilliant, my camera has a T mode so i can open and close the shutter when i want and use double exposure

[RobDickinson]

I shoot at ISO 100, f8 and bulb, 1-5 seconds. Tripod/cable release.

[cherokee1111]

just a word on the card in case anyone doesn't think it through, dont use WHITE card

obvious I know but still worth mentioning

[weetsie]

ahh it went terrible.

it was raining the whole time and i got soaked and so did my camera so i used my DSLR instead and because there was no wind the air just filled with smoke and water vapor and whenever a firework went off the whole sky glowed orange.

this is probably the best out of 30 or so and it sucks but saying that its not worse than what i saw with my own eyes.

[johnaalex]

What a bummer. Good result for such bad conditions.

[geoffz]

Well I attempted some firework shots from the garden tonight, and I set the camera to iso 100 f10 and bulb :

The time I just left it, not sure how long.

Its not the best, especially as I used my finger on the shutter button, I will have to get batteries for my remote shutter release .
Only have a cheap jessop Tripod at the moment, but hope to replace that soon with a better one soon.

I'm quite happy with it considering it is the 1st time for fireworks, and really want to try with a card in front of lens next time.