I would like to add my 2cents and suggest something completely different. Everyone seems to harp about slow shuttertimes & tripods.

Following picture was taken handheld at ISO1600, 1/500s, f/2.0 (using the 35mm 1.8g lens and a D90) :

(in Tanabe, Wakayama, Japan)

I am no firework expert, but usually the closer to the action you are the less useful tripods and long shutter times become ... and the more detail you'll get. So my tip is to get as close as possible and forget about all those "how to shoot firework guides". If getting close is not an option then forget about all i said and bring your tripod.

Oh my God what a ow same pics!!

Really enjoyed this thread!!

Some great shots here, but honestly, fireworks are the BEST in Japan, no comparisons at all!

kyoshinikon said:
I think the universal consensus is get a tripod, no vr, long manual exposure and no af. Also Bring a lens hood and possibly a black deflector. Stray light will screw up your shots...

I agree with "no VR" in the following situation:
you're on a surface which has a lot of traffic. For instance, I was on the JFK bridge for the Macys 4th of July in NYC some years ago, and the traffic was very heavy with all the people, subway, and nearby cop motorcyles...the VR ensures no shakes. Even with hyper-sturdy tripods, you can get some shake, and it's notable slower than 1/8 sec.

From Disney World this summer. One place the movable screen on the D5000 came in handy. I was hand holding it over the peoples heads in front of me.

Exposure 0.2 sec (1/5)
Aperture f/4.2
Focal Length 32 mm
ISO Speed 640
Exposure Bias +2/3 EV

from osaka this year

this was taken with a phottix wireless trigger. bulb setting on a d700 with 70-200 VRII. 180mm f/16 3.3sec ISO200

very sharp on the crop. would look great on a big poster ad.

as you obviously realised. you really need to worry about getting a good spot to shoot from! people make it almost impossible at a big event (like in osaka)

and the smoke makes it hard to. you need to get the shots off before the smoke.

you photos look really nice.

I actually shot wide open and often do with fireworks to pretty good effect. This is probably my best fireworks shot (from Osaka Japan 2008)

f/4.5
70mm
5 seconds
iso 100

Thanks Davey,

I had the opportunity to shorten the exposure and still use low ISO because I used F8 and bulb simply holding the shutter open until I'd seen enough happen. I do believe that the images I posted represent how I remember the firework too. I understand what you are saying about the water shots, but I think these are quite representative of my memory of the display.

The link to Ken Rockwells site above was the most usefull information and entirely what I based my settings on as it made perfect sense.

Some very nice still fireworks photos. One thought I always have though is how does your eye actually see them. An example is a shot of moving water. Long exposures give an artistic but drawn out cotton candy image that looks very phony to me as one who does a lot of water images. Fireworks though we sure are not as clear how they looked as it happened. Did you try higher ISO and not like it?? Nice photos though and I am glad we got a chance to see them!

Did this turn into Nikon MD...? and thanks but i only by Nikon lens...The 12-24mm looks like what i need...

My school friend is a specialist in Tourette syndrome. He was the smartest guy in my year by a long shot his marks were always on average about 5-10% above the second placer and rest of my year which had about 400 people(Yeah, large school) I did beat him once in one subject, science! highlight of my years in school! its really great to hear the passion he has for helping these kids. And its good to know that big brain of his is being put to good use to make a difference in this world.

That gets the award for furthest off-topic posting. It could only be further off-topic if it wasn't even about photography.

Some form of tourettes syndrome perhaps?

Hey JGiraud, you said you were looking for a good quality wide angle for your camera and I don't know if you've found one yet but I strongly suggest if you're on a budget the Tokina 12-24 ATX Pro. Just pick one up and hold it and you'll know what I mean and it: This explains exactly how I feel about it:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-wide-zooms/comparison.htm

http://sonofvinland.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2tb1vf

Don't forget your tripod. Lower your ISO as low as you can, shutter 112/10 second, aperture F/9.0, oh yeah a wireless shutter release would help a lot as well...hope u enjoy my shot.

Interesting idea Paperman. I'll try it next time.

Don't forget you can overlay 2 images (if taken RAW ) on top of each other . You can take 2 of 4-8 second exposures and then combine them in your Nikon to see twice the amount of fireworks .

This works out better than one long shot as you don't know what type of firework is coming up while shooting . If anything real bright is fired In the middle of your 15 second long exposure, it can ruin the whole shot . So 2 of 7-8 seconds exposure overlayed is a safer bet- you can eliminate the burnt-out-highlight one . When you go home , just combine some of them in camera - endless choices if you haven't moved/zoomed - and see how they look .

Regulator 75,

Nice pictures.

Your exposure setting are where I started but pretty soon modified them down to the above. The Frence don't do massive displays (virtually every large town has them on Bastile Day), they are quite compact displays but extremely stylish - IME less is definitely more in this case. At this display, an 8 second exposure would have so many fireworks going off it would be a jumble.

A few more examples from that shoot - all polite criticism welcome:

I stuck between f/11 and f/14 - between 2.5 and 8 second exposure - ISO was at 100.

I want to thank those people who gave me some hints on this topic and am posting one of the 200 images I made that night. Mostly they are better than I hoped for, I'll maybe post a slide show on Flikr when I get that stuff worked out. For those looking for info in the future, here is how I did it:

D5000 in Manual mode, f8, bulb, auto WB, ISO200, manual focus, VR off (tripod), 18-105mm used at about 18-35mm.

All were well exposed, I only deleted the ones where not enough happened during the exposure and it looked lame. I guessed the exposures at 1-4 seconds.

An example (picked at random - it's bed time):

I see. Thanks so much for explaining. I found this very informative. I can also understand using the DX bodies when shooting bears or anything with a nasty "business end" for that matter.

Reread Graphicnatured's question to me and see i did not address his real question! I meant to say that D700 fireworks still did not look that awesome compared to the D90 which I used for both still and video. The D90 video just plain blew the doors off all the other fireworks photos. NOT that there weren't some nice individual pics taken with still cameras but the video and the sound were surprisingly effective. Again taken on 800 ISO and -4.0 exposure bias on P mode on JPEG fine large for still and then FOCUSING before switching to Live View and engaging the video. I found I needed the proper focus before shooting video to be sure. I have seen effective D90 videos before. But many taken that night of fireworks were very good!! I shot my D700 still on 1000 ISO and they were good, well at least some were good, but simply only added spice to the iPhoto show where agin the AVI video clips switch to Quick Time Player. When we put these on our Final Cut Studio editing they will be as good as they are going to get. All things considered I'd often take the D700 to take photos. Yet it has no video. The video and strangely the on board sound from the D90 was really good in this application.

Shutterbug Magazine tested a lot of DSLRs at various ISOs and uses. I concluded from my search there and elsewhere that on D90 800 ISO was OK for almost everything. That is on a good representative model. I have helped about a dozen fairly close friends to set up their D90s and they all are using just about that setting. A D700 in my experience is one of the best pro DSLRs and maybe one of the best cameras I have ever used. I set my D300 and D700 on 1000 ISO after very extensive tests. I use my D300 almost exclusively with my 70-300VR which is my favorite go to lens. Fireworks now I would do on D90 video on 18-200VR at ISO 800 and minus 4.0 exposure bias in P Mode. I have tested 1000 ISO and 1600 on my D90 and switched it back to ISO 800. I photograph too much high speed stuff to use ISO 200 anymore but have tested it. I am from the Kodachrome 25 and 64 ISO era and DO NOT WANT to do that anymore. My wildlife work convinces me that higher speeds are required. The only wildlife shots I ever saw done on extreme shallow depth of field were done in zoos or the like and the shallow depth of field was a tool to mask signs of habitation. Back to D90 versus D700.....I have found that I PREFER my D300 and D700 on higher ISO than my D90. When I referred to D90 with 70-300VR I was saying I prefer to shoot some things as close as the 70-300VR permits like butterflies. They are not very big. When I am photographing Brown Bears in the field in a few days I will use both a D90 with a 18-200VR and the D300 with 70-300VR and there hope that I am not so close that it is dangerous or too close to properly frame my subject. Again I do NOT use teleconverters.

Davey J, 800 is just as good as your D700 on a D90? Or am I reading your para wrong? I can't imagine closeup ISO 800 on a D90 better that D700, so please inform me. I have a D300 and am anxious to learn.

Fortunately for me they do. Come to SD. All through the summer, night after night.

I would try to test your gear in advance of any important shoot. Pretty tough as fireworks displays don't happen every night!