Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, my friends. Here are some pictures I took from the Acosta Bridge over the St. Johns River in Downtown Jacksonville. Photographing fireworks is difficult at first, but once you learn, things get a lot easier. First, I set my ISO to 100. The lowest possible ISO reduces noise. I can only have this low sensitivity because I use a tripod. No tripod= no good photos in this case. Next, I set my focus to manual and manually focused on the buildings in the background. I was usually zoomed out to 28mm. I used a small aperture, usually f./ 8 to f./ 11, so there weren't many depth of field issues. I used a shutter speed of 1/10 second to 10 seconds. This allowed the fireworks to "do their thing" as my camera's sensor recorded it. If I could do it again, I'd back further up. I wish I had a wider angle lens, like an 18mm or wider.

The important things to remember are a tripod and a longer shutter speed. You don't need a DSLR to shoot fireworks effectively. You can use a simple point and shoot if it has manual settings or a fireworks setting. If you don't have a tripod, try to find a stable ledge or table.