Fireworks shows are amazing spectacles. The bright lights, the loud noises and the “ooohs” and “aaahs” from the crowd all combine to create an intense experience. Unfortunately photographs of fireworks usually aren’t anything close to the real thing. Here are 7 essential tips for making the best firework photographs.
1) Tripod & Remote Release
Start with a stable base. In order to capture fireworks and streaming trails of light you will need a longer exposure and without a stable base this becomes impossible. A remote release cable is also very handy in order to trip the shutter at exactly the right time. A good method is when you hear the firework explode trip the shutter or better as soon as you see light trip the shutter. It doesn’t hurt to be early. This is one time where being trigger happy is alright. 🙂
2) Manual or Aperture Priority Mode
Setting your camera in Aperture Priority of Manual modes yields the best results for me. Pick your aperture based on the depth of field that you want to capture and let your camera pick the shutter speed in Aperture Priority Mode. Or if you are comfortable with Manual mode dial it all in. Fireworks can be very bright and therefore a smaller aperture tends to yield better results. Something between f/8 and f/16 can get most of the scene in focus and allow for nice long shutter speeds to capture more of the scene. Using a lower ISO setting will result in the least amount of noise. ISO 100 is generally a good choice.
Fiddling around in the dark with camera setting is tricky, so get it all dialed in before the show begins.
3) Show the surroundings / framing
Fireworks photographs are not as interesting just on their own. Include some of the scene and people in your image to give your image a frame of reference and show the excitement and awe. Get on location early and setup before the show starts. This will allow you plenty of time to determine the scene you want to capture and take some test shots before the excitement starts. A wider focal length will allow you to capture more of the scene and all of the exploding fireworks in the frame. Make sure you know where the fireworks will go up and gauge how high they will go. Check the wind and try to be upwind of the fireworks. The amount of smoke that they generate can be intense and can turn all your images hazy.
4) Focus first
The worst thing is getting back to your computer and finding out that all your shots are out of focus. Make sure that before you start firing away to find a focal point and set your focus (usually the brightest light will work). Then switch off auto focus and make sure not to bump / adjust it while fumbling around in the dark. This is another one of those things that you want to do before the show starts.
5) No flash
Turn off your flash. It will not illuminate much of anything and it will confuse the camera when it comes to exposure length resulting in poor shots.
6) Power off button
When you have just witnessed an amazing series of fireworks quickly switch off the camera. This will close the shutter and save the image captured. The key to this is to set your shutter length to be several seconds. When you hear the fireworks activate the shutter and then after all the magic turn off the camera to close the shutter. I like to use a remote release cable and set the camera to bulb mode, then I use the cable release trigger to open and close the shutter.
7) Experiment and track shots
Review your shots while you are shooting and make sure that you are getting the results you are expecting. Remember getting shots of people and surroundings in your shots gives your image a sense of scale and location. Bracket exposures to get some exposures for the whole scene. Or use a higher ISO for a couple of frames.
Most importantly have fun and remember to enjoy the show.
If you have any tips of your own leave them in the comments below.
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