Trying Fireworks

Recently we went to a Minor League Baseball game, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and after the game they had fireworks. They have fireworks after games through out the season so I can go back and try fireworks again and again.

I took pictures of the games and fireworks but want to share the firework photographs. I was hand holding the camera for all of these shots. I will talk about how I could improve them after the photos.

Fireworks one. iso 800, f/3.5, 1/20sec

Fireworks two. iso 800, f/3.5 1/20sec

Fireworks three, iso 800, f/3.5, 1/10sec

All of these photos have the same problems.

1- I had my shutter speed too slow. I should have had it at 2-4 sec which means that I would have needed a tripod of someplace to set my camera.
2- too low of f stop. A higher f stop would have helped because I would not over expose the image with a slower shutter speed.
3- lower iso. This would have allowed for longer shutter, lower noise and better quality image.

If I had done these I would have had more colors and longer tails which would be more interesting to look at and come closer to what we see with our eyes.

In images one and two more in the foreground would have helped make a more interesting by giving more dimension to the images, where as image 3 had things in the background that added interest.

I will try again with fireworks and share my results. While I did not photograph the firework well I did learn what I did wrong so I can improve next time.