July 3, 2010

Fireworks photos

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I have tried for years to take fireworks photos and often get blurry shots but I took the time to do some reading and try out some settings on my new Nikon D3000.
I love this shot and wish I had had the settings right when I took it but these are the kinds of shots I used to get.
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But I decided a new camera means learning new things so I spent the afternoon perfecting my manual setting expertise (which wasn't much before tonight and is still sorely lacking but I'm learning!)
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It's amazing how much you learn from picking just one subject and learning what your camera has to do to get those shots.
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First of all, for fireworks shots you need a tripod. I found mine in a box of junk labeled "Stuff" in the attic.
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Now for the settings....
Turn your flash off.
Turn your dial to S and set your shutter speed at 4 seconds...yep 4 secs...that's why you need the tripod.
Then turn your dial to M....that M was kinda scary for me. I usually ruin my shots when I try to play with the M button.
Set your ISO to 100. Setting this as low as possible will reduce the noise in your photos.
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I played with the manual focus setting like some of the tutorials I read said to do but I found that my auto focus worked much better for me. Use an aperture between 5 and 11. Mine was set on 5.6.
I also played with the Active D lighting on and off. I couldn't tell much difference at all but ended up leaving it on.
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That's it, I pressed the shutter button and let the camera do it's thing.
Much better results than I have gotten in the past and I get another chance to play tomorrow night when we have our fireworks at church!
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So in a nutshell...
Tripod
Focus: Auto
ISO: 100
Shutter speed: 4 seconds
Aperture: 5 to 11
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Hope you all have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!

12 comments:

Jen said...

BEAUTIFUL!!! Happy 4th of July :)

Cheryl said...

Beautiful shots !!
Have a great 4th and be safe.

Janet, said...

Beautiful pictures! my son took some great shots last night of our fireworks in Ripley. I posted them on Facebook. The biggest thing at getting them right is putting your camera on a tripod!

Millie said...

Those are beautiful. It makes me want to go to fireworks tonight, but we're looking at rain. :-(

Granny Annie said...

Awesome photographs. You should win a contest or something for these great shots. Thank you for sharing your talent.

Elle Bee said...

You got some really nice photos!

Rose said...

OH........ wowowowowow! I am going to forward this to my dd who takes her own great pics. Totally awesome!!!!!

Julie Harward said...

WOWZA...prettiest ones I have seen! Great fireworks too! :D

Christi said...

WOW!!!!

Kentucky Farm Girl said...

Thanks everybody!

Anonymous said...

These are fantastic shots. Thanks for sharng your tutorial with us. Wish I had a D3000! I don't think my camera will do those tricks. :)

Cher' Shots said...

Wonderful pics! What a great inspiration to pull my "old" but great camera out of the closet to relearn it. I've become spoiled with the conveniences of digital.

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