Challenge!

Challenge for over the weekend: Fireworks!

You'll need a tripod, and set your camera to manual.

Shutter speed: about 1 second, more or less. You'll have to experiment quickly as the fireworks go off. If you leave the shutter open for too long, you'll have too many fireworks going off and it won't look good. The above shot had a shutter of just .8 seconds.
Timing is tricky so just keep shooting.
Aperture: f/4, f/5.6 or something relatively open.
ISO: 200 or 400
Focus: Set to manual. You'll probably set it to "infinity" -- for Canon users, it's a little tricky because infinity is usually not quite all the way when you turn the focus. Look through the lens and you can try to eyeball it. Zoom in, focus, and zoom out if needed.

If you want to shoot the fireworks in Des Moines, a good spot is atop the parking garage here, just north/across the street of the Iowa Historical Building. Bring a small radio and tune into 90.1 fm to listen to the orchestra!