Tip for fireworks pictures: don't take pictures of the fireworks with the very fine strands. They turn out as a great big blob on the pictures. Half mine were of fireworks like this, and they were all horrible. You'll have to use a very short exposure to get an acceptable picture of these, and I didn't.
I used an aperture of f/16 this year, based on last year's experiences of finding f/8 and f/11 to be too wide. I'm happy I did. I also experimented with some short exposures, and I wasn't entirely pleased with the results - the points of light were too small to look interesting. I'm going to suggest 1/4 second as the shortest that you go when taking pictures of fireworks.
I also didn't get any good pictures of the willowy fireworks, in spite of using some shorter exposures, and I'm going to conclude that there is no way to take good pictures of these, short exposure or long exposure. Sit back and enjoy them and leave the camera alone.
In case you're wondering why I don't take pictures of the First Night (New Year's, for you out-of-towners) fireworks, it's because they're over the harbor instead of the river, and I don't know anybody with a suitable roof/balcony/window there. That's part of the reason, anyway; the other part is that it's really cold in January.
and here's what happens when you have a little bit too much fun with
your image editor:
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