Fireworks at Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving and fireworks!

Well, yes! If your in Myrtle Beach S.C.

Apparently, Broadway at the Beach has fireworks frequently. While visiting last year during the same timeframe I didn't have a camera. This year even though I was prepared with camera and tripod I experienced several technical problems. First, I didn't have a remote shutter release (forgetting it at home in my other camera bag). Second, the fireworks only lasted 3 minutes and they were not as colorful as remembered. Three minutes of fireworks is not a lot of time to experiment and choose. Finally, I didn't scope out a good enough place to sit my tripod that had an interesting foreground or backdrop element for my fireworks.

I can't stress the importance of having a good foreground and backdrop for your fireworks. Anyone can take photos of fireworks, but composing the scene with an interesting element can make the real difference. Thinking I had a good background, once the fireworks started the crowd gathered in front of my camera and smothered it. First it was a few people, then there was a crowd. I was forced to start shooting into the sky and avoiding the foreground elements that I had planned on using. Good thing I went with my 28-200 zoom lens and not the 35mm prime. With only 3 minutes of fireworks, I would have wasted valuable time switching lens.

I found that holding the shutter for about 2 seconds seemed to work the best. I basically just took photos every 2 seconds I hoped for the best. It is difficult to anticipate the fireworks. I left my ISO at 200, my aperture at f10 and focused in a distance where I estimated the fireworks would be exploding. Once I had that all set, I just experimented with different shutter speeds.