Photographing Fireworks

They are such a cool spectacle to capture with your camera. Do not be intimidated by your camera, just go for it and try it out.  You have the chance to capture some sweet images. Here is a quick tutorial on how to take images of the fireworks.  I suggest you attempt this set up prior to the night of the show to make sure you are comfortable with your camera settings and have all the gear you need.  

1. Shoot in Manual Mode: You will be manually exposing your image and manual focusing your shot.

2. Tripod -  The less you touch your camera the better! you will be shooting at a very slow shutter speed, so you will need to have the camera on a tripod to make sure it is stable and still. If you try hand holding the camera this will cause movement to the camera and at the slow shutter speed it will then translates to blurred images.  No tripod - find a sturdy surface to place your camera.  

3. Remote Control Trigger - if you have this, use it. It will also help with reducing motion blur in your images.  Just having your finger on the camera to push the shutter button can sometimes cause movement to the camera.  However, if you do not have the remote control trigger, do not let this stop you from taking pictures of the fireworks.

4. Camera Settings: 

   1. Aperture - Choose an aperture in the range of f/8.0 - f/16. Using a small aperture will allow for a deep depth of field.

   2. Shutter Speed - You will need to use a long exposure to capture the movement of the fireworks.  TO do this, you can experiment with various shutter speeds, or you can try and use the bulb setting of your camera. The bulb setting allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as the shutter button is depressed.

   3. ISO - choose a low ISO (100 or 200)

5. Manually Focus - It can be difficult to use the automatic focus in low light conditions, so try switching to manual focus when taking images of the fireworks

6. Turn off you Flash - Having your flash ON will make your camera think it needs to use a fast shutter speed - this will make it difficult to capture the fireworks.  

7. TIME your SHOTS: you can keep the shutter open for the one burst or a few firework bursts.  Firework shows last for a while, so you have the time to check your images and experiment with your exposure times.

8. FLASHLIGHT - to find items you might need in the dark