In the summer there is no shortage of events, festivals, or activities to take photos of, one of those being fireworks. Taking photos of fireworks can be harder than it looks; our eyes are able to see the streams of light pouring across the sky illuminating everything around in vivid colours. Getting our cameras to see that however can take a bit more work, but with the right tools and knowledge it can be easy and rewarding as well. Below are a few tips on how to get the best photos of fireworks in most situations:
Photographer: Aziz Dhamani
1. Use a tripod. I cannot stress this enough; trying to take photos of fireworks without a tripod will result in mostly blurry photos. By using a tripod, you will be able to slow the shutter speed down on your camera and still get crisp detailed photos without worrying about a shaky hand. You can get a very light and portable tripod that will fold up to a bit larger than a tote bag and can support a small to medium size DSLR with a lens. It is more likely that you will take a tripod with you if it is smaller and lighter, rather than having a bulky tripod that you leave in the corner collecting dust.
2. Use a remote. When taking photos at night with your camera on a tripod, even the slightest movement of the camera from pressing the shutter button can result in a blurry photo. Using a wireless remote or cabled shutter release will take your hand away from the camera, and allow you to take a photo without the risk of bumping the camera while pressing the shutter. Also while using the remote, you can lock the shutter open, or shoot with a longer exposure without having to leave your finger on the shutter the entire time.
3. Scout your location. This may seem like an odd point for this topic, but what happens when you have taken one hundred photos of the fireworks barge and the reflections of the fireworks off the water? You may want to change things up a bit; by taking photos in a location where you can shoot with a wider angle and catch the entire scene and ambience of the show around, you can capture an entirely different emotion or context with your firework photos.
Photographer: Aziz Dhamani
4. Manual Focus. If you leave your camera’s autofocus on, you will miss photos while your camera hunts to find something to focus on. If you turn off your autofocus, and set your aperture to F11 or F16, test your focus on the first couple detonations to make sure that you are ok. After that, you will not have to worry about having out-of-focused or missed photos because of your autofocus system.
5. Exposure. The best practice for fireworks photography is to set your camera in the M or Manual mode, ISO to 100 or 200, and your shutter speed to the bulb setting (aperture should be F11 or F16). In the bulb setting, the camera’s shutter will be open for as long as you press the shutter down. This allows you to control what the camera is recording in front of you. In bulb mode, you can play around with many techniques, letting the shutter stay open longer, or using a shorter exposure (if you leave the shutter open too long, the fireworks will blend into one mass of light with no detail). A fun method to try is to take a photo in bulb mode, and cover the front of the lens with a cap or dark covering. Then uncover the lens when a firework explodes, repeat this a few times in one exposure with a few fireworks and you will recordsmultiple fireworks in one photo.
Shooting fireworks is exciting, beautiful, and can be very rewarding the next day while combing through the night’s top photos. Make sure you have enough time to experiment and find what you can get before the big finale happens! Most importantly, get out there with your camera and take lots of photos while always pushing yourself to try a new technique or something different!
Broadway Camera’s tripod selection / Broadway Camera’s remote selection
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