foggypreacher Loc: Dickinson, Texas

I have been into DSLR for only about 18 months now, but find this site helpful with constructive criticism and knowledge from experience. I took some fireworks photos last night and read some from UHH and some articles from other sources. The suggestions were mostly about the same. The area I had the most problem was focus.

I realize that autofocus would not work well and changed to manual. I used the other various ideas about settings, but still most of 150 shots were out of focus. The few that I called just OK were out of focus, but the pics looked interesting after touching up the settings in Lightroom.

Please look at the attached photos and offer some help in what I did wrong. Many thanks in advance to those of you Hogs for your consideration.

My camera is Nikon D3400 Nikon 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 100 (Not sure what I did not do to get the pictures to show up on the site).

3 sec 18mm f/9.0
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3 sec 18mm f/9.0
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2 sec 18mm f/9.0
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2 sec 18mm f/9.0
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Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

To get the pictures to show up, you need to upload Jpg files, not the original raw files.

If you upload the raw files then they first have to be downloaded to be seen

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Don't post RAW (NEF) files. Yes, I tried downloading one but you have a newer model Nikon than my version of Ps CS6 ACR 9.1.1. My system can probably handle up to five year old version of NEF files. Or say D7200 vintage cameras. I shoot Pentax but my Adobe software can open what it can of any brand file, i.e., Ps CS6 can open my Pentax K-3 PEF files but not those of a newer K-3ii. Had I bought one of those I'd either have to get a subscription for Ps / Lr or use DNG files.

Post JPEGs and check "store original".

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Convert NEF to JPEG.
Post only JPEGs.
Check "store original".

fergmark Loc: norwalk connecticut

Using DNG converter

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foggypreacher Loc: Dickinson, Texas

OK, thank you all. I'll do that and try again.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

I downloaded your nef's, ran one thru Sharpen A.I. from Topaz to correct focus, had to use maximum blur removal, but it helped a little.

Definitely looks like you are out of focus for the shots. Are you sure your lens was set on infinity?

FWIW - my setup for fireworks is to take a shot with AF on where the fireworks will be and let AF focus on infinity, then turn AF off on the lens. I normally shoot at f/4.0-f/8.0, 100 ISO and shutter speed of between 1-4 seconds, tripping the shutter when I hear or see the shell going up to catch the initial explosion. Longer shutter times can get more shells, and increased aperture can help reduce the width of the trails. Some lenses are set to infinity at different locations, some at a hard stop, some just back a little from the hard stop.

My Flicker feed has an album of over 800 fireworks shots over the years with EXIF listed - the more recent ones are better ;)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjATjKMd

The images included in this post are one of your originals converted to JPG, and the results of running it thru Topaz Sharpen A.I. at max reduce blur.

Original JPG from raw NEF

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After Topaz Sharpen A.I. set for Focus fix, max reduce blur

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foggypreacher Loc: Dickinson, Texas

Thank you all for your kind words. I will know from now on to use the .jpg files. Even the ones some of you worked on still do not look as sharp as others I have see. Obviously they are better than the originals I loaded.

I noticed today that in some instances using AF I received out of focus photos of my grandson. I went through all my lenses to be sure it was not one lens only. They later they were fine. I obviously am doing something incorrectly so I will go back to square one and backtrack. Again thank you.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

From some examples, if / when you post & store the JPEG files, we may see some settings in the EXIF data that might help in understanding the focus issues as well.

foggypreacher Loc: Dickinson, Texas

OK, here are the jpeg files of those fireworks photos. Thanks in advance for your help.

Tonight I was taking some pictures at church and had trouble with focus. I kept rechecking my diopter and different lenses. Finally, I was able to get satisfactory focus. I may take the body in and check it out at the local brick store.

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DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

You are out of focus on all your shots. You need to set your focus before the fireworks begin and then leave it where it was in focus. Tripod and remote shutter release should be used. Your exposure should be between 3 and 5 seconds. Your ISO should be 100. Your f/stop should be f/8-f/11. Shooting fireworks is a simple process and shouldn't be overly complicated in the beginning. Later you can begin to expand the timing on your images to capture more bursts. If you are out of focus you will never stand a chance.

foggypreacher Loc: Dickinson, Texas

DavidPine, all the things you mentioned, I did. I was in manual, ISO 100 F/8, I went from 3 seconds to 10 but mainly I stayed around 5 or 6 seconds and used a remote shutter.

I understood about setting focus first and thought I had. However, as I chimped and saw them out of focus, I tried to change the focus. I had AF turned off, stabilization turn off etc, etc. For some reason I could not get the focus right.

For the next few days, I continued to have trouble with focusing using either AF or MF, did not matter they were out of focus. I set all my settings back to defaults and started again and must have done something right, because focus is not an issue.

I may never know what I did wrong for the fireworks, but I will try again next chance I get.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Next time go out before the sun sets. Find something in the vicinity to AUTO focus on. When that is done switch to manual focus and leave it alone. Sit back and wait for the show.

foggypreacher Loc: Dickinson, Texas

Thank you DavidPine. As you know, here in Texas fireworks are shot off many times of the year. I believe the next time is for either Thanksgiving and/or Christmas and then New Years. I will try that in stead of just trying to focus on the fireworks as they are shot off. I will post again when I get the next chance.