Photographing fireworks is incredibly easy, and it impresses the daylights out of your friends when it works. If they only knew how easy it was. You point the camera, and open the shutter. Fireworks (the explosion) is easy. But strong composition and showing the crowd which is there is another problem entirely.
Of course, the people in the foreground will all be facing away from you. And they'll be backlit, just a fraction of the light in the sky reaching the crowd on the ground.
Photographers get plenty of silhouettes, a few people lit by a fill flash, or buildings lit up with enough existing light to show up in the frame.
The above exposure was about 30 seconds-- for the bottom of the frame. And maybe five or six seconds for the top. I used a black card to block out the top (fireworks) while keeping the shutter open for the bottom. No double exposures or computer manipulation is allowed.
I'm all for trying something new to get better photos. If your fireworks photos look terrific, and you'd like to share your expertise, let me (us!) know how you did it.
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