Tall Ships Opening Fireworks in Boston

The Tall Ships are coming to Boston. In case you haven't heard. We'll have to get there early, but come join me in East Boston to shoot fireworks in the harbor, hoping to get some ships, too.

Fireworks is stated to begin at 9:15, sunset is at 8:21. There will be lots of people around, especially at our chosen location. In fact, if the pier is already overcrowded, we may fan out and find out own spots along the water.

A 14 to 70mm range is most suited for this. If you have a 14-24 and 24-70 lens, bring both or any prime lens in that range. For this particular shoot, you might want to also have along a longer telephoto for shots of the ships. And you will definitely want a remote, preferably cable.

For fireworks, set your ISO to 100, then plan on taking photos at 1/4 to 4 seconds, depending on how much motion you want to catch. Start with an aperture of F8. You may need to try different F-stops: the fireworks are bright, but the city and the ships need to be properly exposed, too. You want the skyline behind the fireworks and the fireworks very high - vertical/portrait mode usually works best, unless you choose to go very wide. Going horizontal and wide gives you more options for cropping the best composition.

You'll definitely want a tripod.

The weather is supposed to be gorgeous.