I found this.
http://www.digicamhelp.com/how-to/special-subjects/fireworks/

Thanks, Ronnie. Without a tripod, I guess this attempt will be just for fun. I'll bring the little flashlight as suggested, though.

Without a tripod, I've used various things to steady my camera. I've set it on the top of the car. Inside the car, I've rolled the car window part-way down and set the camera on the top of the glass edge. I've set the camera on a box, on an up-ended book, anything to hold it steady. Even held it against the side of a tree while shooting.

You do need a tripod. One effect is that you tend to flinch when the sound bangs on your eardrums. It took me awhile to associate certain swiggles with the sound blast.

You are going to be doing a time exposure and one may consider leaning tightly against a tree - doesn't work every time. Most of the time the tree foliage comes between you and the big burst, and that is what you were after in the first place. Here are some of the props I;ve used:

Elbows on a car top.
Supporting my hands on top of a post.
A park bench.
Sitting on the ground with my elbows on my knees (I did not weight as much then and I was much younger.)

A tripod is a must to get decent results. Even a light weight tripod is better than all the manuvers above.

I used a film camera for fireworks. The controls of my digital camera is not on par with a good film camera and the lens could open to f/1.4. Most digitals don't come close. You'll have to experiment for the lens opening. My memory says you'll get burn out at f/1.4. For starters, try f/2.8 or f/3.5.

To do the shot, set the shuter speed to "B" (the old fashioned bulb) or equivalent. The setting you want is the one that opens the lens and it stays open while you continue to press the release and then closes when you remove the pressure. You also will need to prefocus. For most situations, set the focus to infinity. Turn off the auto-focus. Its too slow and probably won't work in the dark. You'll get best results if you use a shutter release cable instead of your hand on the camera. I think you agree by now that many of the older film cameras are better suited than today's digital. For example, can you get shutter release cable for your digital?

You'll need to anticipate where the burst will appear and aim the cameras at this spot. I think you will find the optical viewfinder is much better than an electronic one. If you have an SLR with a 'fast' lens, the view finder will be much brighter than an electronic finder and there is no image lag. Very few digital cameras up to no more than 5x zoom have optical view finders.

This is the procedure i used to get my shots.

1. Mount the camera on the tripod and ready the camera.

2. Adjust the friction locks to provide a little resistance to movement.

3. When the rocket is fired, follow it with the camera and when you think it is about to explode, lock tripod head and open the shutter. Keep the shutter open until after the burst and then close. Do not hold the lens open for a lengthy period. You do not have to keep the lens open until the burst dies away. In fact, some good photos resulted when I closed the shutter when the burst shape was 3/4 full.

4. Keep a record of your lens opening. Its going to take lots of experimentation. You'll find that the best photos are largely luck. However, you can better the chances with practice and paying attention to details.

If you want to include the trail of the rocket, you'll have to zoom back to provide a wide enough field to contain the rocket trace and the birst. I suggest that 50 % of the trace is plenty and concentrate on filling the frame with the burst. This is an area where experimentation is good. Be creative. The one very great advantage a digital camera has is that it is very cheap to experiment and delete unwanted shots.

Hmmm. Maybe movie with sound is the way to go.

I can't help you with the photo technique question.

But does anyone else feel that many are losing the chance to experience the moment by looking at everything through a lens these days. Sharing the experience with friends and family is more important to me than having a picture of something. Am I alone?

Everywhere I go I see people focusing their cameras or their cell phones on things instead of their eyes. At the aquarium I see this all the time . While trying to get that perfect shot of the hammerhead they miss the flounder that just came out from behind the rock. They miss the look of wonder on their child's face while trying to get the best shot of the otter. You can buy pictures of these things. You can't buy the memories.

Wildchild, I agree with you completely. As someone who grew up with a camera in my hands, I've long been aware that when I take pictures my focus is on the task to such a degree that I lose myself in it, and everything else falls away. When I was a reporter photographing people making speeches, during the time I was shooting pictures I was unaware of what they were saying.

And of course photographing fireworks turned out to be even worse, because the viewfinder remains black for the duration of the exposure, which in my case was four seconds. So I definitely missed a lot of the show. But it was something I wanted to try, having never done it in all these years. I don't think it's something I'll do every year from now on.

Jemdandy, I ended up using my DSLR's Fireworks scene mode, which uses a 4-second exposure. Most of the time I was standing, so I couldn't even rest my elbows on anything. But my goal was to have fun, and I achieved that. Plus the pictures surprised me. They're really not all that bad. I'll post them in a separate thread.

Thanks, all!

Well I did look at your pictures on your other post and they did turn out beautifully.

I'm glad you understood what I was trying to say and didn't think I was saying you shouldn't take pictures. Just food for thought.