Ho folks - it's been about 18 months since i had to film fireworks but it's been dropped on me for saturday's wedding - I was thinking a couple of locked off handycams on wide in the general direction and an on camera light for b&g reactions plus getting a few silhouettes if poss - any tips?

Hey Peter, that sounds pretty good to me, but if you're able to manage without the lights you'll get the flicker of the fireworks on people's faces.

Maybe something like: extreme wide angle capturing all the fireworks action, exposed for the fireworks so you can actually see what colour they are (and this shot might or might not have people in the foreground), wide angle exposed for the people getting reactions, then "creative camera" getting close-ups of faces, silhouettes from behind, or anything else interesting -- silhouette of the venue against the sky, silhouette of trees, reflections, cake in foreground with fireworks behind.

One more thought: are the fireworks actually organised by the couple? If not, then it's worth speaking to the couple to time their runsheet exactly, so that the fireworks don't go off in the middle of speeches. I remember having a long discussion with photographer and MC one night about this -- I wanted the fireworks to go off during the first dance, but the MC seemed to think that guests would want to go out onto the balcony to watch the fireworks, so he wanted it to happen just after first dance. I think I should have pushed harder for my point of view.

Here's some older threads:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-event-videography-techniques/504250-shooting-fireworks-wedding.html

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-event-videography-techniques/524292-how-do-you-expose-fireworks.html

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-xh-series-hdv-camcorders/125258-shooting-fireworks.html

Cheers Adrian - I've also found this regarding white balance and fireworks which is a great help

Fireworks and white balance (http://www.firework-review.org.uk/fireworks/2011/04/white-balance/)

P

All what Adrian said plus all the fireworks I have seen at weddings the B&G always stand a bit forward of the main crowd & you can get some good shots of the pair of them against the sky with fireworks going off in the background.

A word of warning - it's very easy to end up with the shots of the actual fireworks totally blown out. You also don't get a chance to check exposure before the fireworks actually start so be prepared to quickly adjust exposure after the show starts.