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[pick7499]

What is the best way to take pictures of fireworks and night shots?

I have 2 kodak easyshares.

Thanks in advanced for any input.

[emtpej]

I have not had good results with our two Kodaks, even though I use the setting for night landscape, and every other setting. I have not tried a tripod to hold them still, yet.

[LizardCop]

Not sure which Easyshare camera you have, these are my experiences with the Z1275...

If you have a firm steady surface to rest it on, you can use the fireworks mode. That mode usually opens the shutter for 2 seconds, which is why it don't work hand held.

If you can steady the camera on something solid, you can use the p/m mode and go manual. When steadied, I can shoot as slow as 1/15 second with my easyshare, but I have practiced a lot, and I mean a lot. Really worked on keeping things smooth and steady...

You can get some usable pictures with shutter speeds as low as 1/60 second, but they are darker as the aperture is limited...

What I do, and recommend, is go out at night and take pictures. I know you can't do fireworks every night, but take pictures of things in your community. Experiment, practice, play and have fun, but learn at the same time. Take pictures of lighted buildings, traffic on the roadway, anything that you can try with longer exposures and to figure out how to steady the camera so you can get longer exposures, consistently...

You will be surprised what you can do when you practice and play!

[Cam22]

Bill's advice is great. I have found the more I practice night shots the better I am getting at them. I did find last summer with my little Canon PowerShot that using the fireworks mode worked when I set the camera on a fence rail at MK, but I only got that spot because a rain storm sent many folks home.

[Tonichelle]

to add to Bill's advice - DON"T USE FLASH. It doesn't help, and it annoys people around you.

[pick7499]

Thanks for the advice...I'm going to do some playing around at night in town.

Maybe I'll invest in a small tripod before the next trip.

[LizardCop]

Originally Posted by pick7499

Thanks for the advice...I'm going to do some playing around at night in town.

Maybe I'll invest in a small tripod before the next trip.

Small tripods are nice, especially if you can get one small enough to comfortable carry with you. I occasionally use a monopod that has a tripod leg type base to it, and also can be used as a walking stick. It helps...

However, at WDW I have learned to use what's available, garbage cans, light poles, fences, bench seat backs, whatever is fixed and available. The nice thing about digital is that you can change almost everything on the computer later. So if I have to shoot vertical instead of horizontal, that's fine with me, I still get the picture...

The key thing to night/fireworks photography is to learn the capabilities and limits of your camera. Play a lot. Take tons of pictures. I used to do this in the "film" days, except I used black and white film and I processed it myself in a home made darkroom. Otherwise, I would never have been able to afford it...

With digital, all you spend is time, and you can really have fun playing with it...

[Pax]

Do your cameras have a Tripod mounting point on the bottom?

If so, you can get inexpensive tripods for under $40 ... I got myself this one from Amazon, which is now on sale for even less than I paid two months ago. It's reasonably light, enough so that if I cared to, I could probably carry it around with me all day without cause for complaint (and I likely will, for both MK and EPCOT).