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Equipment

• Camera :) and lens - short zoom (18-55, 24-70 etc)
• Tripod
• Remote Release
• Black card/foam
• Spare, fully charged batteries and empty memory cards
• Small torch

Location

• Get there early
• Work out where the fireworks are going to be and stand upwind
• Try to find higher ground
• Make sure your view isn't going to be blocked when more people arrive
• Try to find level ground
• Closer is not nescessarily better

Set your camera up

• Set to full manual
• No flash!
• Set focus to manual (auto-focus will hunt in the dark), and focus to infinity
• Set aperture to f11
• Set ISO to 100 - 200
• If you are not using RAW, turn on noise reduction if you have it as even at low ISO, long exposures may result in noise (although bear in mind this may slow the camera)
• Set your camera up
• Set shutter speed to bulb (B) if you have it
• If you don't have bulb set your shutter speed to 2 - 4 seconds or as high as it will go depending upon whether you are taking single burst or multiple bursts respectively.
• Line up your camera to where you think the best fireworks are going to be (you may want to zoom out a little more than normal and crop in PP) and make sure your horizons are level.

Take your pictures

• If there is little wind, or you are downwind the sharpest pictures will be at the start of the display as gathering smoke will make images hazy
• Save some space on your card for the end as the most spectacular fireworks will usually be saved 'til last.
• Single burst

• Fire the shutter as the rocket is launched if you want to catch the trail
• Fire the shutter as the rocket reaches its zenith if you don't want to catch the launch trail Experiment
• Release the shutter as the last sparks die

• Multiple burst

• Fire the shutter and hold your card in front of the camera (don't touch the camera)
• Move the card away
• Just before the rocket explodes
• Just after the rocket explodes
• Just after you hear a rocket being launched
• Just as you see the rocket become visible
• You can mix and match the above for as many fireworks as you like, but it can get messy with more than 3

• Take lots of pictures and check your LCD often and tweak settings accoringly
• Experiment