4th of July - How to Photograph Fireworks

So bear with me, this is something I have never done before and I am so excited to try it tomorrow night. This is kind of last minute and depending on your equipment you may or may not be able to pull it off. Plus photographing fire works is a little tricky. But hey, who doesn't love a good challenge. After tomorrow night, I will post a couple pictures that I shot during the fire work show. For now, here is the research I have found to get a great fire work shot.

Use a Tripod - This is a must! Exposure times can be up to 1 to 4 seconds, so unless you want your pictures to look like a bowl of spaghetti bring it. Also, if you own a cable release or some sort of electric release, use it.

Location, Location, Location - Get there early if you can and pick a spot that will have an unconstructive view. Watch for trees, buildings and people that may get in your way. Hilltops, lakes or riverbanks offer a good vantage point. Also a nice touch is if you can incorporate a city skyline, monument building or reflections on the water.

Settings – First set your camera to its highest image quality setting, RAW would be best. Read your manual to find out how to set your image quality to RAW. Adjust your camera to the bulb mode setting. (This can only be done on a manual camera.) When using Bulb shutter speed, you are manually holding the shutter open. If your finger is on the camera's button, this will create camera shake. Even on a tripod. You will have to use a cable release to use the bulb shutter speed. If your camera does not have a bulb setting, then set it to aperture priority or the automatic setting. Set your aperture to f8 and your ISO to 100 or 200; any faster you may experience digital noise. ISO basically means your film speed. The brighter it is out side, the lower the ISO you want to use. The darker it is outside, you will want to use a higher ISO. Keep in mind that the higher the ISO you use, the more grain you will get in your pictures. Anything over 800 will give you more graininess. Now with that said, using a high ISO is not good for fire work shots. Why you ask? Even though it will be dark outside, the fire work itself will be VERY bright. So in turn you will want to use an ISO of about 100-200. So that is the exception. And don't forget... turn off your flash. Using a flash will capture or freeze the moment, but your flash will be like a 'drop in the ocean' trying to light up the sky. Setting up your digital camera for long exposure shots will capture all the colorful trails of the fireworks.

Focus – Set your normal lens (50mm) or wide-angle lens to infinity. If your camera does not allow you to do this then focus on the furthest light source you can.

Picture Time - Another thing to remember, is keep the camera very steady when taking the picture. To do this you MUST use a tri pod. Than after that, you have two options. You can use the 2 second self-timer to take the picture-the only bad thing is that you will need to have good anticipation and timing if you use the self-timer. Or you can use a cable release with the bulb shutter method. You will have more control over the timing of the picture this way. You can release your shutter as you see the firework steaming up to the sky and release at the pinnacle of the explosion or as the fireworks descend to the earth. This process should take 1 to 4 seconds on average. Experiment with it to get different results.****Personally I used the self timer option because I couldn't get my hands on a cable release in time. But that is ok, because the self timer worked out just fine.****

Don’t forget – Make sure your bring extra batteries, memory cards and a flashlight. And last but not least, why not capture the emotion taken from people's reactions ... snap the wonder shown on their faces as the next firework booms into the sky ... Happy 4th of July everyone!

******Here is the grand finale from the firework show I shot.******



After I took these pictures I came across this tutorial for fire work shots. I found it pretty helpful as well. Good to have for next year!

http://www.webphotoschool.com/all_lessons/free_lessons/Shooting_Fireworks_with_the_E-3/index.html