taking night pictures fireworks with nikon d3x

[braddock_williams]

<p>I am novice and was wondering anyone with experience with the d3x camera can assist me as to the setting on camera to take decent photos of fireworks . I have tried on my own for poor results. What am i doing wrong ? what settings should the d3x be set to?</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>For aerial displays you need to go all manual. Set a low ISO ~100 ISO, Aperture f/5.6 - f/8 and a longish shutter speed of 1/8 to 1 second. Set the White Balance to Tungsten and set the lens to manual focus somewhere in the region of 50ft (15m) distance. The camera won't have time to autofocus on the rocket burst, and it won't focus on a blank dark sky either. A tripod will be a great help if it's a professional display taken from a distance, with all the sky bursts happening in one well-defined area. Amateur displays can be all over the place and you might have to track the rockets using the camera handheld, in which case a VR lens will help a bit.</p>

<p>You'll have to experiment with the settings a little - or a lot - to get the best colour and size of burst. The shutter time will govern how much of the burst you capture, and the aperture how saturated the colour is. Overexposing will result in poor colour. Try to anticipate the bursts and fire the shutter just beforehand. Otherwise the burst will be half over before you manage to fire the camera. Good luck!</p>

<p>Personally I find that combining shots in Photoshop is the only way to get really spectacular images. Purists might disagree.</p>

[SCL]

<p>I've always relied on the guidelines in the New Jiffy Calculator free at http://www.stacken.kth.se/~maxz/files/jiffy.pdf. Print it out and fold it together & you will have an exposure treasure. Everything will vary depending on your distance from the fireworks, a skyline and fireworks will be different from sitting on the lawn or in a stadium with them overhead. In any case you should manually focus and then for exposure for fireworks set the camera on manual exposure - example for ISO 200, you could use 1 sec. and f/32, to capture the burst and trails, or do multiple exposures setting it on bulb - but you would have to significantly shorten your open shutter time by opening the shutter but keeping the lens covered with a piece of black paper which you would quickly remove and replace for each burst. You will need to experiment to see what works best for you. I generally agree with Rodeo, above, Photoshop is your friend.</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>I use a tripod and a long lens stopped down to f/16 or f/22. My exposure time is around 10 seconds. I trip the shutter when I see the rocket going up or when I hear the launch. I use a 300mm f/2.8 and am far enough away that I get most of the rocket trail as well as the full burst. At the finale the 10 second exposure will let me get multiple bursts in the same frame. I do use long exposure noise reduction and that does slow down my shooting but it makes for a cleaner image.</p>

<p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>Oh and I forgot to say that I set the ISO at base, which for the shot I linked to was 200.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>You should plan on doing a bit of experimenting. And if you are using a zoom lens, you may want to focus on something in the distance before it gets dark. (Autofocus at night can be a challenge for fireworks.)</p>

<p>ISO 100, 200, or 400 will work. A shutter speed of 3 to 15 seconds will get good results.</p>

<p><br />http://www.photo.net/photo/7419271<br /><br /><br />http://www.photo.net/photo/7415633<br /><br /><br />http://www.photo.net/photo/16278652</p>

<p>the above images are a few examples....</p>

[5711]

<p>long exposures do take quite a bit of experience to come out like you want them to be.<br /> ive done quite alot of nighttime longexposures and i would suggest you try this:</p>

<p>get a tripod<br /> get a cable release.<br /> <br />different lenses, preferably wideangle.<br /> a single shot of a firework is boring, could be shot anywhere,anytime. show the area, transmit a feeling, generate a sense of place and time. i know people like those..i dont..personal opinion.</p>

<p>the native iso of the d3x is 100.<br /> iso 100 at night will give you very long exposures, can be a problem.<br /> a d3x will get very noise after 800.</p>

<p>set the camera to M, choose the biggest aperture you have, say 2.8.</p>

<p>judging the time of a..lets say city scape with fireworks..that is a tricky thing.<br /> lots of black (sky, houses whatever) and light...histogram all to the left and right, extreme corners are fun.<br /> depending on your image, the amount of light will vary, and thereby reducing your shutterspeed.<br /> i almost always start with 15 seconds. (depending on the scene)<br /> if this was the country side..so almost everything is black, id start with iso 400 and 30seconds.<br /> try to nail the exposure for the lights in your scenery...get an ambient exposure that feels and looks about right.</p>

<p>now you wait for the first firework.<br /> take a photo. adjust time.<br /> practice this, maybe with cars moving along roads towards a city.<br /> classic photos, good training.</p>

<p>fireworks against the nightsky..well<br /> thats like photographing a concert.<br /> go practice there.<br /> put the camera on your tripod. no need to handheld screw up all your photos.<br /> a monopod would be great, tripod works too. way more steady than handheld nightsky firework shots with a 70-200 :)<br /> go to an iso setting that doesnt produce awefull amounts of grain.<br /> d3x, lets say iso 800.<br /> A<br /> f2.8<br /> focus set to infinity...duh<br /> <br /> underexpose for all the black in the sky.<br /> depending on the intensity of the fireworks, i would suggest -0.7 to -3 EV<br /> this should, idealy give you a shutterspeed from 1/30-1/250th of a second.<br /> in other words, expose for the light.<br /> want some motion, fine, less underexpose the photo.<br /> easy as that.<br /> easy to learn, hard to master.<br /> practice even more as the above mentioned tripod method and do not get frustrated.<br /> nightshooting takes a lot of practice and a d3x is a tricky camera to use for such a thing.</p>

<p>best of luck<br /> enjoy</p>

<p>edit:<br /> shoot raw only.<br /> do not use noise reduction and d lightning in camera as this does not effect raw files</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>I typically shoot fireworks with the camera on tripod, at base ISO, in this case 100, f/8 to f/11 depending on the brightness of the display, and exposure times of around 2-5s (MC-30 on bulb). Turn long exposure noise reduction off to be sure that you can time the next shot right after the previous one and don't have to wait for the dark frame to be measured. I think LENR would require several seconds before activating on the D3X anyway.</p>

<p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>never stop down to f16 or f22 on a high density sensor like that unless you like diffraction and don't want to print very big. Otherwise you're wasting the capabilities of that particular fine camera.</p>

[scott_murphy5]

<p>I have used this technique for many years. I get a card which is painted flat black on one side and is large enough to more than cover the front element of my lens. I place the camera on the tripod, set the lens at infinity and set an aperture of f/8 or so with a low (100) ISO. You may need a 2x ND filter to give an effective aperture of f/11 without the degradation due to diffraction. I then attach a remote release and with the card in front of the lens, lock the shutter open on B. When you hear the fireworks start, remove the card, allow the lens to remain open for the duration of the fireworks and then cover it again. If you just want this exposure, then release the shutter. You can use this technique to make multiple exposures simply by uncovering the lens again with the shutter still locked open.</p>

<p>Doing it this way will eliminate any blurring due to mirror slap or the shutter opening when using long time exposures</p>

[5711]

<p>comming home after a week or so i wound up lying on couch with a cold one and my laptop checking what my friends had been up to. who cares, right. <br>

so anyway..scrolling down this sheer endless list of bs on facebook i found something that might be relevant <br>

fireworks explained by joe mc nally<br>

http://blog.joemcnally.com/2014/07/01/well-you-know-4th-of-july-and-summers-over-2/</p>

<p>well i guess you guys do have bigger fireworks over there.<br>

i couldn't stop down that much :)</p>

<p>good luck<br>

and yeah..i had been thinking of you!</p>

<p>haha<br>

jk<br>

cheers mate</p>

<p> </p>

[5711]

<p>comming home after a week or so i wound up lying on couch with a cold one and my laptop checking what my friends had been up to. who cares, right. <br>

so anyway..scrolling down this sheer endless list of bs on facebook i found something that might be relevant <br>

fireworks explained by joe mc nally<br>

http://blog.joemcnally.com/2014/07/01/well-you-know-4th-of-july-and-summers-over-2/</p>

<p>well i guess you guys do have bigger fireworks over there.<br>

i couldn't stop down that much :)</p>

<p>good luck<br>

and yeah..i had been thinking of you!</p>

<p>haha<br>

jk<br>

cheers mate</p>

<p> </p>

[braddock_williams]

Thanks everyone for your response to my question. This was all extremely helpful,