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c/blurry-photo-helpharper_owensharper_owens28d agoProlific Poster

Three years of fireworks photos finally made sense after one setting change

I kept getting blurry shots of fireworks every July 4th. Absolute garbage. Tried different zooms, tripods, even a new lens. Nothing worked until a photographer at the park told me to switch to manual focus. Set it to infinity and locked it. Crystal clear bursts every time after that. Has anyone else struggled with night sky shots? What's your go-to fix?
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2 Comments
patricia_rodriguez
Angela's actually overcomplicating it lol, most consumer lenses today still have a solid infinity stop and you're way more likely to miss the shot fiddling with live view than just trusting it. @angela191, I've shot fireworks for years and locking to infinity works great if you're using a wide angle and not some macro lens.
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angela191
angela19128d ago
Ugh, okay, I gotta say something. That's not exactly how it works. Setting your lens to infinity is a good starting point, but most lenses these days don't have a hard stop at infinity anymore. They'll let you turn past it, so you can actually focus past stars. You gotta either look through the viewfinder and fine-tune it, or use live view and zoom in on a bright star or distant light to really nail it. Just clicking it to infinity without checking is kinda gambling with your focus.
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