淀川花火大会（Yodogawa Hanabi Taikai）

花火大会(Hanabi Taikai) is a big event during summer in Japan. I went to this one last Saturday with other Malaysian here. Going for Hanabi is fun, but it can be very tiring. You need to go there like 3 to 4 hours earlier to get yourself a good place, and you need to spend like another 3 hours to keep in line waiting for your turn to leave the place, and get a sit in the train. Anyway is worth it. I can't describe it here by words how amazed I was although this not my first time. You really need to be there to see it by yourself.

I have been trying to shoot a fireworks photograph with my digital camera every time I went for Hanabi. But the photos didn't turn out nice. This year I try it again with my DSLR D40. The result, what I can say is, this is the best fireworks photography that I had taken before but it still looks very amateur. Here is some difficulty that I faced, maybe some of you can give me advice on how to get a better shoot!
1. I cannot get a very nice spot, so what I can take is only the fireworks itself, I cannot have other framing except that.
2. It is very hard to catch the right timing when to press the shutter.
3. The smoke is very annoying.
4. The best setting is?? I have my aperture set at f/11 and shutter speed around 1 to 5 secs.

Here is some of the photos that I took that day, hope you enjoy it!I like this one but the photos is a little bit over-expose. If the sky turned out to be darker, it should be better.

Everything is nice except the smoke , is really annoying

Best shot??

I like this one also

Although the color is a little bit dull, but I like the trails leave by the fireworks