Shot some fireworks that went on tonight in Jacksonville.  This is the first time I’ve successfully shot fireworks, granted the last time I tried was last 4th of July, but having a year in between shoots gives you time to think about how you’ll do it.

I was basically exposing for the fireworks.  I set ISO 200 at 2 seconds and f/20 manually focused on approximately where the fireworks would be.  All this is done on a tripod of course.

Next was to figure out how to handle the foreground.  2 seconds isn’t really enough at those specs to pick up anything besides black.  That is, unless you have a strobe.  I triggered the camera manually then manually hit the strobe before the shutter closed.  After some tests I found that 1/4 power provided the best exposure.

So I figured out how I was framing the shot then repeated till the show was over to make sure all the variables came out correctly.

Stephen and Belinda Johnson sit in the bed of their pickup truck as they watch the Jacksonville fireworks Thursday evening.

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