topic Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

What happened to my fireworks photos?

ruby3 — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:32:42 GMT

Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposure

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

ruby3 — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 20:30:22 GMT

what was wrong. was it the F stop?

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

Mike — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 20:34:57 GMT

Welcome back to the Community, ruby3!

Were there any specific questions about those settings that the Community can answer? Or any pics showing the results you can post? The Community would love to help, but needs a bit more info about what you're looking for here, please.

Thanks for reaching out!

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

ruby3 — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 21:00:10 GMT

I used those settings and the picture I posted was what I kept getting. Just pinpoints no fireworks. I studied up on all the settings but something must of been wrong that at a 10 second exposure I didn't get anything except the pinpoint of color.

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

Danny — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:32:10 GMT

So that the community can give you the best advice, please let us know which Canon camera you're using. Hope to hear back from you soon!

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

stevet1 — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 14:48:14 GMT

ruby3,

First, take your camera out of bulb mode. You don't actually need the Bulb setting until you hit 30 seconds. Le'ts see what happens if you remove Bulb from the equation.

Secondly, go outside on a dark night and take a picture of something like a streetlight or a brightly lit storefront. Do you get the same results?

Third. what ISO were you using? Maybe raising the ISO might help.

Steve Thomas

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

LeeP — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:43:18 GMT

What lens were you using?

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

MikeSowsun — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 18:20:05 GMT

Don’t use Bulb mode. I suspect you used Bulb mode, but had it set to open after an 2 second self timer, or 10 self timer. Is that right? If not, I don’t see how you can set a 2 second exposure and also use Bulb mode. It’s impossible to use Bulb mode, and also a timed shutter opening at the same time.

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

rs-eos — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:06:33 GMT

Mike hit upon it regarding the 2 or 10 second self timer. My guess is that the shutter speed actually used was fast. Zooming in to the image you posted, I can see just a tiny amount of motion blur with a few particles, but most are frozen.

Do pass along the settings that were used for your images. If you still have the images on your camera, you can review them and typically press the info button to display the settings that were used to capture them. Or, when importing to a computer, if using DPP, Lightroom, etc, you can view the settings there.

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

FloridaDrafter — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:12:18 GMT

Some of the EXIF data from the posted image.

Canon EOS 90D
Lens	TAMRON 18-400mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD B028
Focal Length	18mm
Aperture	ƒ/8.0
Exposure Time	0.025s (1/40)
ISO equivalent	100

Newton

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

stevet1 — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 03:26:23 GMT

ruby3,

Yes, it looks like maybe you might have been confused about the 2 second and 10 second timer.

Those are just a timer that waits 2 seconds or 10 seconds before the shutter snaps.

You need to set a shutter speed yourself. A shutter speed of anywhere from 2 seconds to 5 or 6 seconds should be pretty good for fireworks, I would think.

Steve Thomas

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:05:37 GMT

I am using a remote shutter release and I just do different counts, sometimes to get several bursts in a frame. I got some good shots in 2024 but looking at the information on the shots that year and this year last year I use a f16 and this year a f4 to a f8 and other than that I had the same settings as the year before. These was last years. Although I still think even these settings need to be better.last years at f16last years with a f16

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:08:18 GMT

I was using 100 and a remote shutter with bulb that I liked to keep open for several burst, not a camera timed setting. I would use different counts but usually a count to 10 and release.

Re: Fireworks started out Bulb, manual focus, F8, tripod, remote shutter, 2 to 10 sec timed exposur

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:12:35 GMT

tamron 18-400mm manual focus

with vc off EOS 90D remote release and I count to 10 or there abouts I think maybe my fstop was wrong, because I looked at the info on the pictures last year and I was using a f16 instead of a f8

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:15:44 GMT

see early reply on what I got last year with a f16, remote shutter release I would count out to 10 cause I wanted multiple bursts in a frame. i think it was my f stop cause it was the only thing different than last years but all the sites was saying f8 and i know I failed in some because it was in f4

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:21:47 GMT

I was using a Canon D90 with a tamron 18-400 lense, manual focus, bulb setting with a remote shutter release, 100 ISO and counting to 10. I compared this year to last years and I see that the only difference was the fstop. this year it was f4, totally bad, f8 better, but nothing compared to the f16 that I got last year, But not totally happy with the f16 either. I posted to a earlier reply a couple of the ones from last year. I also diaabled the VC on the lense and focused the shot manually to where they was going to go off, which was inf. But it wasn't a focus problem..I know it was the fstop but trying now to figure out what the ideal fstop is.

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:08:52 GMT

time on that one and the fstop diffinitely. I usually do a manual count slow to 10. On earlier replay I posted what I had done the year before. I am seeing a problem with not KEEPING MY COUNT ON SECONDS CORRECT ON MANY AND THE F STOP

I was looking at last years and the f stop and my timing was bad this year. I had better luck at a higher f stop and a longer count. I was trying I think to just capture one burst and than close the shutter and that was not enough time at that lower f stop. I posted some from last year way better longer shutter time and at a f/16. I did get some shots this year at f/8 but with longer shutter time. this one was at F/5.6 ISO200, 7.6 sec. I just got to find the right formula. But you are right the time the shutter was open was way too little on that one.

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

stevet1 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 01:10:07 GMT

ruby3,

I have read a tip from a guy who took 30 second exposures, and held a black card in front of his lens. Every time a firework went off, he would take the card away for about 5 seconds, and then replace it. That way, he was able to fit several exposures into the same shot.

I've never tried that myself, but the concept sounded intriguing.

Steve Thomas

Re: What happened to my fireworks photos?

ruby3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 02:09:27 GMT

exposure time is way off. I can see. I change settings a couple of times in shooting and had better luck at some of them, but I want to try to find a consistent success. definitely my shutter time was way wrong but was getting some shots at f/5.6 but at a shutter of 19,..I was using a remote battery powered shutter that worked the night before and then the second night until I switched over to the hand held shutter release was doing 1/40 second continueously. So maybe the battery on it needed to be changed or something that it wasn't doing what it was suppose to do. I probably just to be on the safe side should have put fresh batteries in it. But it seemed to be working but each shutter speed on the bad shots are all the same so it wasn't operating correctly.