Every November my village hosts a bonfire and fireworks party on the green to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. There is a small fun-fare, the pub sells hog roast baps and a couple sell their own home made mulled wine. For the last few years I’ve been taking my camera up to capture the atmosphere of the event and the spectacular fireworks display. After preperation and research this year, I’m still not thrilled with the photos I’ve come away with (sigh). I have a few photos I like but I haven’t found a technique to really capture the beauty of the light or magnitude of the explosions lighting up the darkness.
The first year I took photos with my Nikon D40 and tripod, I set the shutter speed incorrectly and ended up shooting a very fast exposure as opposed to a long one. I have now learnt about which direction I want to turn the shutter dial to capture at a part of a second and the graphic showing whole seconds. (Thought I had this down already but hey ho, I do now!)
This year I have my new camera a Nikon D7200, which is fantastic. This camera has many more options than my other DSLR, however I’m yet to become confident in adjusting all these settings for each situation. For example, the basic exposure method is the same of course but I now have ISO sensitivity settings to be aware of as well.
Here are a few of the photographs I took this year that I’m pleased with. These weren’t what I was looking for but the effects are cool.
The tips I read about for photographing fireworks suggested using a low ISO and manual mode. I’d appreciate any advice for taking photos of firework displays from DSLR camera users. Of course It’s tricky to practice photographing this sort of light when I only see fireworks once a year. But hopefully this time next year I’ll see an improvement.