Not too much time really. I just wanted to share what worked for me. A distilled experience for those who want something solid to build from; without being bothered by too much technicalities, complex rules & formulas.
As for bravery, i don't know... Coming from another artistic endeavor- Drawing/Painting/Animation, I focus more on the craft and outcome instead of the tools hence the seemingly unorthodox way and point of view.

"One must learn to draw first before one can learn to animate - One must learn to speak his mind (compose) first before learning which tools can help achieve that vision".

Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

Thanks. That is a valid suggestion and i did try to give as much space as possible(see step 5). Unfortunately i can only adapt to the circumstance and the best composition i can pull-out of it requires cutting off the fireworks.

Thank you.

Au contraire, ISO is one of the pillars of exposure hence it matters a lot for us to fully understand what it is in order to proceed up the ladder of knowledge technically and artistically.

The reality is that the ISO we were exposed to is a lie.
Sensor do have sensitivity and every sensor depending on their design and attached technology can be assigned a strict & compliant base ISO. Everything that comes after that base ISO, the signal boost that is applied, should have been a standard step but experience shows us that manufacturers do not comply.

Things become clearer when invariant ISO was exposed as a marketing tool.

It matters because if we can see though this fog of mis-information, then we can compare apples to apples and know for sure the capability and limits of our tools. Then we can truly decide which one fits our need. Which is better for what job for its cost.

... and in the end, be better photographers.

Precisely my point. ISO is supposed to be a standard but in digital cameras, it is a toothfairy. It does not really exists.

Thank you for the kind remarks.

Only the first 3 images were stacked. The one you liked the most was a Luck-Moment. It was only cropped and then enhanced.

Captured some fireworks using the 12 steps process.
The full story can be seen here; https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-580096-1.html#9910223

With the process posted earlier ( https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-575239-1.html ), I photographed some fireworks.

1. The tools i used;
Nikon D610 with 24-85 kit lens
Tripod
2&3. I am working overseas and there is a light festival in a park near where i stay. I could hear the fireworks at night and knowing the place well, i imagined and conceptualized the photo that i want to capture.

4. My Hero/Story is a mosque highlighted with fireworks.
5. Final composition will be done in post as i can not really tell what i will get. The fireworks will be totally random so i just made space for it. I zoomed/framed it according to the clutter (trees etc) around the mosque.
6. a. White balance set to auto
b. ISO set to 100 to avoid as much noise as possible
7. I pre focused on the Mosque as that is my main subject with f/8. Being about a hundred feet away, this means the fireworks will be in focus as well.
8. To keep it steady, i had the camera on a tripod and i also delayed the shutter for 2 seconds. The lens Anti-vibration (VR) is left ON as the cheap tripod was wobbly. It was too flimsy for the heavy D610.
9. I made some test shots before the fireworks came on and thru chimping i found 3 seconds to be the optimal shutter speed.
10. It was not so much as adjust but ADAPT because i have a delay of 2 seconds before the shot and also a delay of 4 seconds before the camera can shoot again. I had to learn quickly the tempo of the skyburst so i can time my shot to get the beginning of the blooms.
11. During the whole shoot, i sometimes moved the whole setup laterally several feet - Camera & tripod left and right to get the better composition with the fireworks. Having everything in manual & already adjusted, as long as i move perfectly laterally, everything remains in set & in focus. I just move then click away.The whole show was not that long so i have limited shots. The initial prep proved to be the icing as most of the shots were very good even though i kept changing locations.
12. As foretold, The final image was edited for final composition. This was done in Photoshop. 3 main things were done.
a. Cropped and distortions removed.
b. On 3 of the photos, blooms were stacked to create a better composition.
c. Saturation, Color & Vignette was adjusted or added
d. Done but was not really necessary- sharpening of the image

And here are the images:

Majaz Park, Sharjah U.A.E.

(Download)


(Download)


(Download)


(Download)

I agree.
On the other hand....

There are 3 kinds of truth.
1. Universal truth
2. Natural truth
3. Human truth.

Universal truth like Death, is always true but people do not like to accept it.
Natural truth such as action-reaction depends on a variables and we tend to dismiss it.
Human truth like Laws or Religion, are always based on someones point of view and they will believe it even if proven wrong.

Technology is always a factor. As for the spec sheets, It may be deliberate on the manufacturers part to avoid having those specs in the open.

You are correct technically since all changes are done in squares, on apples to apples comparison it should be a stop better. But I was speaking about a theoretical "working limit" which is based on (my own) acceptable image quality.

You break my heart bro LOL.

The pixel size of a D850 is .0043 x .0043
The Pixel size of a D7200 is .0039 X .0039

That is a difference of .0004 X .0004
That my friend is a very very small difference, hence my comment "APPROXIMATELY the same size".

Its pixel size being slightly larger, the D850 is a tiny bit better, but never the less it is still less than a full stop better than the D7200.

Do you know whats the real facepalm? In Digital cameras, ISO does not exist. 1. Because manufacturers do not adhere to a standard and 2. Because Camera ISO in not about sensor sensitivity but the amount of gain done to the signal.

We can not change the sensitivity of the sensor. What we adjust as ISO in the camera is signal gain. In essence they can claim as much ISO as they want because they can boost the signal as much as they want. The limiting factor which i for reference reason call "working limit ISO/optimal sensitivity" Is the amount of gain we can apply which the signal to noise ratio is acceptable. Which is "generally" at present times, a setting of ISO12800.

Beyond a certain amount of boost, the signal to noise ratio becomes too much that we do not have a good image anymore.

That is what i mean by "generally" & "approximately the same size".

Full frame usually has twice the pixel size with 200% more area. But the D850 has more pixel than the average full frame, hence its pixel area is only .25%bigger. Since we are talking microns here, that is really a very small difference that as you say, it is not even a full stop away.

Unfortunately, the link supports my claim. Because technically, the D850 has approximately the same pixel size of a 24mp APS-C sensor. That is why their ISO performance is similar in which the maximum optimal sensitivity is about 12800.