Considering the 4th of July is right around the corner...

[Mike Boden]

...I was thinking about taking some fireworks shots this upcoming holiday, but I've never done this before. Can anybody recommend the basic technique? I'll be using my 8x10 camera with Provia 100 and most likely a 240mm lens.

After searching the internet a while, it seems that the most recommended apertures are between f/8 and f/16. But this was for 35mm cameras. Does this same philosophy still hold true with large format lenses?

Thanks.

[Sheldon N]

I recently did some fireworks photography at the Rose Festival in Portland, OR a month or so ago. I was shooting 4x5 and using a Nikkor 90mm. I exposed on bulb and tried to imagine the firework bursts stacking on top of each other to determine how long to leave the shutter open. From my results, most times I erred on leaving the shutter open too long rather than too short.

I shot the Nikkor wide open at f/8, using Provia 100F and Fuji 64T tungsten. The Provia exposures were a little overexposed (5-10 secs exposure times), so I ended up pulling the remaining sheets 1 stop in development after a test sheet. At rated ISO, I'd say f/11 or f/16 would be better. The tungsten film came out beautifully, with a much better color rendition than the Provia. It was also shot at f/8, no change in development.

I'd highly recommend shooting either tungsten film or adding a blue filter, especially if there's a cityscape in the background.

Success rate is pretty low, 1 or 2 in 10 exposures on my shoot, so it might make sense from both a DOF and financial standpoint to use 4x5 rather than 8x10.

Good luck!

[Walter Calahan]

Yes, unless you're doing a bunch of swings and tilts, the exposure technique is the same for all film formats.

Fireworks are explosions, so they're bright. F/11 is good for a few bursts. f/16 is good for many bursts in one frame.

The length of time you leave the shutter open depends if you include a foreground element that is lit. If there is, such as the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in Washington, DC, you take a spot reading from the object and determine your exposure time at f/11 or f/16.

With 100 ISO film the Washington Fireworks exposure is always f/11 at 15 seconds. You should stop down to f/16 for the finale, but keep the 15 second time. Finales are always extremely bright.

The Washington monuments are lit with daylight balanced light, so you should NOT use tungsten film. Unless you like the Washington Monument and Captiol Dome blue.

Don't go too long on the exposure time, or you'll end up with the smoke illuminated.