I’ve received several emails recently about how to shoot fireworks. And while I can’t answer every email that comes in, I thought I would go ahead and post a tutorial on shooting fireworks since the Fourth of July is just around the corner! Feel free to leave your comments and continue to help each other with suggestions and answering questions.
Shooting fireworks is really easy! And once you do it ONE TIME, you will have mastered it!
Consider Your Equipment
A couple of things that are an absolute must to have when photographing fireworks is a very sturdy tripod, a fully charged battery, and a media card that has a fairly descent write speed since you will be shooting longer exposures in the dark. Other pieces of equipment to consider would be a cable release or a remote for your camera.
The lens that you choose to use may vary depending on what you are comfortable with. Some people choose to use a wide angle lens. I find that a wide angle lens works best as long as there are no other obstacles in my path. But sometimes you just can’t get a great location. If that is the case, you may choose a lens that has a little bit more of a zoom. Sometimes using your landscape can add a certain level of interestingness to your photos. If you simply can’t keep other obstacles out of your path, then use them to your advantage! Using buildings in your shots help to show scale, and fireworks always look beautiful when reflected in a body of water. But keep in mind that you want to shoot as wide as you possibly can because not all fireworks are the same. If you zoom in too close, you may not get all of the sparks within the frame! The hardest part about shooting fireworks is predicting what they will do once you hear the canon fire!
Getting Down To Business
Now that you have all of your equipment ready to go, it’s time to turn the camera on and start shooting. This is where most of your questions have come in. I could give you tons of “if this, then that” scenarios, but let’s just make this as easy and as painless as possible! So here is what you do:
Set your ISO to 100. Some people may want to shoot even lower than this, but remember that shooting manual is always about finding that balance between the three major settings on your camera.
Set your camera to manual focus, and focus on Infinity! You camera will not usually focus automatically if it is too dark.
Set your shutter speed to Bulb! WHAT?! Yes… just do it.
Set your aperture to f/11. If you do not like what you see in the camera after taking a shot with these settings, then play with your aperture. You might try shooting at f/8 and then again, you might prefer to shoot at f/16. It will all depend on how long you want to expose your shot. Trial and error baby!
Now that you have your camera settings set, and your camera mounted to a steady tripod, it is time to push the shutter button. Obviously you do not want your camera to shake, so it is very important to use a cable release or a remote. Time your shots. Pay attention to the sound of the canon firing the fireworks. At that point, push the shutter, and hold it. Usually a 4 or 5 second exposure will be enough. But I have even held it open for up to twenty seconds! Again… it all boils down to what you prefer! But I can say this… if you hold it open long enough to catch two or more fireworks being launched, you get some pretty interesting shots as long as you can find that balance of camera settings that will keep your shot from being over exposed. Just play! You can perfect it!
Editing Your Shots
You really need to attempt to get it correct in the camera as much as possible! I can’t give you a lot of tips on editing shots. I wish I could. I’m sure there are many people out there who are far more skilled at that than me. So I can tell you what I do. The only changes I make to my fireworks shots is to play with the brightness level and the black slider in Lightroom. I simply tweak it until it pops! Now obviously I placed the airplane into the shot that you see above because this particular shot is from the Tullahoma air show and fireworks show from last year. But I did that as a gift to one of the pilots from the air show. But I did not change anything about the firework seen in the photo.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions. I totally appreciate you guys asking me to help you shoot better photos this fourth of July! And I would love to see some of the shots that you get. If you would like to post a comment below with a link that directs me to your shots, I’d love to see it. And some of the other people who have written in would probably love to see them as well. In the mean time, feel free to start a discussion below in the comment section. If I didn’t answer your question completely in this post, then someone else may have a better answer for you! I’d love to see where this conversation goes.
Have a happy Fourth of July peeps!
Oh! And by the way… for those of you who have wondered how to shoot lightning?… It is pretty much the same. It is all about timing.
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