Awesome job Web, really great pics, looks like a great display.

Wow, those are fantastic!

Yes, he had a great time. He had been waiting for the 4th to get here for several days. It was a little after midnight when we finally got him showered and in bed. He was still fighting going to bed then, and as expected we have a super grumpy kid this morning. Hopefully he can get a nap at daycare before lunch and then play in the water this afternoon.

those are great, web! 

Great pics Web!  What ISO did you shoot these at?  I tried shooting pics of the fireworks last year when I first got my digital camera (I set it on a tripod) but I think the shutter speed wasn't set fast enough because most of the pics weren't sharp like your's are. 

Yeah Web, how'd you shoot those?

Was that the Cannon Power Shot? Did you have to change the shutter speed? What ISO did you use?

Those are some amazingly clear shots!

Yes, I used my Canon S3-IS.

That camera has a "Fireworks" setting on it all set up and ready to go. JR, you set the top wheel to "SCN" (scene) then you can move right and left to select different settings. One of them is "Fireworks". Others are like "Beach", "Snow", "Night Scene", etc.

So, I don't even know exactly what the ISO, F-stop, etc was. I figured they had that all set better than I could set it manually and it seemed to work really well. The shutter was staying open about 1.5 seconds for each shot.

The next thing was to get the shutter released without wiggling the camera. That camera has a custom setting for the automatic timed shutter release. You can set it to a custom time before it goes off and also how many pics to take when it does. So, I set it for a two second firing delay, and to the maximum setting of 10 consecutive shots. I had it mounted on a tripod, then I would hit the automatic release. Two seconds later, it started taking the 10 pics. With the 1.5 second shutter delay, plus the time it takes the camera to write the image to the memory, I think it was taking a picture about every 3-4 seconds. It would take the 10 pics, then I just had to hit the automatic timer again. I only moved 3-4 times to go back and forth from the ground display to the aerial ones.

I took 178 pictures total. After I deleted the shots that were just black sky or of nothing even slightly interesting, I ended up with about 85 pictures. I'd say I got about 30 shots that I would call "pretty good" to "excellent".

Thanks.

It was fun.

WebGuy wrote:

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Yes, I used my Canon S3-IS.

That camera has a "Fireworks" setting on it all set up and ready to go. JR, you set the top wheel to "SCN" (scene) then you can move right and left to select different settings. One of them is "Fireworks". Others are like "Beach", "Snow", "Night Scene", etc.

So, I don't even know exactly what the ISO, F-stop, etc was. I figured they had that all set better than I could set it manually and it seemed to work really well. The shutter was staying open about 1.5 seconds for each shot.

The next thing was to get the shutter released without wiggling the camera. That camera has a custom setting for the automatic timed shutter release. You can set it to a custom time before it goes off and also how many pics to take when it does. So, I set it for a two second firing delay, and to the maximum setting of 10 consecutive shots. I had it mounted on a tripod, then I would hit the automatic release. Two seconds later, it started taking the 10 pics. With the 1.5 second shutter delay, plus the time it takes the camera to write the image to the memory, I think it was taking a picture about every 3-4 seconds. It would take the 10 pics, then I just had to hit the automatic timer again. I only moved 3-4 times to go back and forth from the ground display to the aerial ones.

I took 178 pictures total. After I deleted the shots that were just black sky or of nothing even slightly interesting, I ended up with about 85 pictures. I'd say I got about 30 shots that I would call "pretty good" to "excellent".

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Good grief.  I've had that camera for about five months now and knew NONE of that!!

I might have to hire you to give me a class in using it   (I know, I got a manual, but they're sooooooooooooo boring to read)