My Dad (lgnelson) and I tried photographing fireworks for the first time with dSLR's this weekend. I had my 100-400mm lens on, shooting around 200mm to zoom in on the sky where the fireworks were exploding. He shot wider to grab some water reflections.

I pre-focused to infinity, set it to Bulb and f/8, and grabbed my shutter release cable. Since the brightness changes a lot, I wanted to vary my shutter speed by "feel". For the most part, I shot about 2" per shot. This gave me a before-explosion and beginning-of-explosion. With the wind blowing, capturing any of the trailing tails of the fireworks just blurred the shot and made it muddy looking. These are some of my best results.

very nice! congrats :) PawKam · 2010-06-28: 10:05

These are all beautiful, but the first and last ones are perfect captures! Great first attempt - we'll do it again next year!! djnana · 2010-06-28: 10:07

Love these!! I may have to take some tips from you when I try this weekend. I just got a remote and I'm looking forward to using it on these. kellybee322 · 2010-06-28: 10:09

Thanks for the tips. Nice captures. I love it! :) wanazza · 2010-06-28: 10:14

Wow, these are great. I wonder if I need a specialized setup to get shots of fireworks. SunflowerGirl · 2010-06-28: 10:19

Great shots, John! That was a fantastic fireworks display, and you got some great captures! lgnelson · 2010-06-28: 10:22

oh...Great work..are so beautiful ! borogovoi · 2010-06-28: 10:46

Fantastic shots!!!! You and your dad did a wonderful job. SunFlower1990 · 2010-06-28: 10:53

Great shots! Well done! darfoster · 2010-06-28: 21:47

Really great shots my friend!!! that first one has so much awesome colour!!!! ????? · 2010-06-30: 09:10

excellent mountainflower · 2010-07-03: 05:54

Tagged: fireworks longexposure shutterreleasecable manual celebrations 365dayproject