I wont have access to my old firework hotspot this year
. So I will need to find another good location. I plan on using this weekend to scout some places out (anyone have a good spot??). I use to have a sweet location to photograph fireworks (my inlaws backyard). But they moved, so now I am on the look out for good places in town to shoot. I didnt realize how good of a show, and how good of a location I had until I started thinking that I couldnt watch the show from their backyard anymore..
Like fishphoto said.. best thing is to shoot, review, and then adjust settings if necessary. A couple of basic things that you will need to do regardless though.
1.)use a tripod
2.)set white balance to sunny
3.)set your ISO to 100
3.)set your camera mode to shutter priority (S mode on sonys, Tv mode on canons, not sure on other camera brands)
and now is when the variable factor comes in.
4.)set your shutter speed. fast (eg 1/100 sec) for just the burst of light (like fishphoto) or slow for the long trails. By slow, it can range from 1 second all the way to 10 seconds (or even more).
Try to avoid bright street lamps in the immediate foreground. If you cant avoid them, then a faster shutter will probably render better photos.
Usually once the firework show starts, I just point the camera to the sky, and start pressing the shutter. Usually I try to time the shutter press with when I hear the firework launched.. but a lot of it is just luck.. just keep pressing the shutter.
Here are some from the previous years
shutter priority: 4 sec shutter, ISO100
shutter priority: 8 sec shutter, ISO100
shutter priority: 8 sec shutter, ISO100