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A note on the photographs

Photographing Fireworks with a Digital Camera

This is a semi-formal guide to photographing fireworks with a digital camera.

Gear

Other than a decent digital camera, all you need for photographing fireworks is a stable tripod.

SetUp

Find a good spot to set up your tripod - preferably on hard flat ground and set get the camera aimed roughly at the area of the sky where the fireworks are expected to be most dense. Try to find a spot where people can't get between your camera and the sky.

Camera Parameters

ISO : Most digital cameras have a user-settable ISO. Choose the lowest ISO. The lowest ISO is the least sensitive to light - which seems to be counter-intuitive when you are photographing in the dark - but it is also the setting that will result in the least noise - those minute red and blue and green speckled dots on your images. If you want to know what noise is, you can check to see by taking two photographs of the exactly same object. Say your black shoes. Take one at the lowest ISO and the other at the highest ISO that your camera offers. View both images at 100% size and it will become immediately obvious what noise is. A large portion of your firework photograph will be dry sky and you want that to be as dark and smooth as possible and not interfere with your colorful streaks.
Aperture and Speed : At such low ISO speeds you will need anywhere from 1 second to 4 or even 5 seconds to record anything on the sensor. Set the knob to Tv (Timing Priority) and choose a 2 second setting. See how that goes. On subsequent shots bump it up to 3s, 4s and 5s and see what works best. Remember that several digital cameras will take a second blank exposure for exposures longer than 1 or 2 seconds to cancel out the noise. Be prepared to wait.
Other stuff : Some digital cameras come with a wireless remote. Though it may seem like a good idea to reduce shake, it also introduces a few seconds of delay which could be too much. Try not to lean on the camera+tripod and press the shutter gently when you are ready.

Don't worry if many of your photographs are under-exposed or over-exposed. There's no sure way to tell in advance how one particular burst will turn out. But if you shoot several a minute for the 15 or 20 minutes that a typical display lasts, you can come away with several keepers. Try it out and let me know how your experience turns out.