So, I'm thinking about the 4th of July and the firework photographs that I'm going to take. Last year I didn't have my beloved 5100, so I'm wondering what are your ideal lenses for fireworks?
I currently have a 18-55mm, 70-300mm and a 50mm Prime. I'm thinking that the 18-55 would do fairly well. But what do you guys think?
Do you have any tried and true things you stick to when photographing fireworks? :D
My cousin and I used to take pictures of the fireworks at Disneyland...we used to get to our spot early and set up the tripod WAY before the fireworks started. Tripod was a must.
Now, I always use a remote and set the camera to BULB. I found that if you manually set your shutter speed to 15 or 30 seconds, you may have a bunch of fireworks go off at once and overexpose and muddy your shot. Using the remote and BULB setting allows me to press and hold until a nice firework burst appears, and then close it before the shot gets busy.
@thomastoth hmm.... i may have to buy a remote for my camera soon, then. I've been planning on getting one for ages. And I'll go super crazy and post all of the pictures. :3
I used my 18-55 on a D5100. Here are a couple of shots, one at 18mm, one at 20mm. I just set it on a tripod, 10-30 second exposures, f16-f25 and kept hitting the fire button over and over. I have also used a repeat cycle timer. You just need to make sure to account for the processing time as well as the shutter time when using a repeat timer.
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Now, I always use a remote and set the camera to BULB. I found that if you manually set your shutter speed to 15 or 30 seconds, you may have a bunch of fireworks go off at once and overexpose and muddy your shot. Using the remote and BULB setting allows me to press and hold until a nice firework burst appears, and then close it before the shot gets busy.
Good luck and post them!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MC-DC2-LCD-Timer-Remote-Remote-Shutter-Cord-IR-Remote-Control-For-Nikon-Camera-/400293208053?pt=Camera_Camcorder_Remotes&hash=item5d33559ff5
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks
We had a fireworks convention last August, and it was my first time shooting fireworks......using my 15-35 kit lens.