how to photograph fireworks:
Long exposure.
Yes, taking photographs of fireworks is long exposure. The aim is to capture the the full burst of the firework which gives great colours and beautiful patterns. You also need to think about the composition too, if you're to close you will miss the full effect. So, look for or at the surrounding area like any other photograph to tell the full story.
Equipment
You will need a tripod and a shutter release. You will not be able to do this hand held and will have some camera shake without the shutter release too, which will make the image less sharpe.
settings
So lets get a bit technical.
When you are taking a photograph you need to decide what the priority is? Aperture or shutter speed? In this case we want to capture the full firework burst. So, shutter speed is the priority. A Typical burst is around 2 seconds. So we are looking at a shutter speed of 2 seconds.
The next thing to consider is the composition. This will determine the aperture. Now, you don't want to be close to the fireworks or you will end up missing much of the light trails, so being a good distance away is key. Also, to keep the details and make it very Sharpe we will keep the aperture at f11 which is a good focal range.
Last thing is ISO. your looking at ISO 200 as its dark and your aperture is quite small. If you find the image is under or over exposed you can either change the ISO, or F Value. But, remember its dark and increasing the ISO will result in noise - so try the f value first.
take the photo.
Tripod and shutter release is VERY important. Without a tripod it is virtually impossible. The shutter release will increase stability because it means you wont be touching the camera.
I said 2 seconds shutter? I did, but don't set the shutter speed to 2 seconds. Use bulb mode instead. press shutter release button at start of burst and release at end.
You have now taken a photograph of fireworks!, well done you!