Photographing Fireworks

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Shooting Tips: Photographing Fireworks

PLANNING
Scout the area thoroughly before the fireworks begin. Look for
a background that contains a well known landmark for the area,
such as a statue, building or river. This will give your photos a
sense of place. Water can be a strong compositional element
when incorporating reflections from the fireworks. An ideal
vantage point has the wind blowing across your frame carrying
the smoke out of your pictures. Wind blowing towards or behind
you will leave smoke lingering in your image.

VIDEO
Video cameras will almost always overexpose fireworks due
to the dark background. Capturing them on video is still
possible with a few adjustments made to your camera. Find
the exposure button on your camcorder which is usually
adjusted by a rotating dial. Adjust the dial by selecting an

exposure that makes everything appear very dark. Look
through the viewfinder to see if the camera is recording the
bursts properly. If not, darken the image further by rotating
the dial. Fireworks photography comes alive when it is
accompanied with “oohs” and “aahs” of the crowd.

Equipment
CAMERA: A Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera that has manual settings, or an automatic camera.

TRIPOD: A sturdy tripod will make your images much sharper due to the long exposure times used when photographing fireworks.

CABLE RELEASE: A cable release will allow you to open the shutter without having to touch the camera which could cause movement and blurry photos. Some camera models may require you to purchase an electronic cable release made specifically for your camera.

EXPOSURE
MANUAL CAMERAS:
The best way to photograph fireworks is with a time exposure. Recording several bursts on one negative makes for great photos. Refer to the Exposure Chart for the correct aperture settings based on film speed.

AUTOMATIC CAMERAS:

EXPOSURE CHART
SHUTTER SPEED	100 ISO	400 ISO	800 ISO
BULB SETTING OR LONG EXPOSURE	ƒ11	ƒ16-ƒ22	ƒ22-ƒ32
1/30 sec. (Hand Held)			ƒ5.6

Automatic cameras set the speed and aperture automatically leaving you no control over them. In this case, faster film such as 400 ISO should be used. The camera will most likely overexpose the fireworks due to the dark sky background. Fortunately, negative films can handle overexposure quite well.

MAKING A PICTURE
MANUAL CAMERAS:

Set your camera on a tripod. Place the focus manually to the “infinity” ( 8 ) setting on the lens. Set the camera to the “Bulb” position - usually indicated by a “B” on the camera. The “Bulb” setting will allow the shutter to stay open until you decide to close it. Connect a shutter release cable to the camera. A locking cable release is preferred for locking the shutter in the open position. You can record multiple bursts on one negative with the “Bulb” setting by shading the lens with a piece of dark paper or hat between bursts. The shade will prevent stray light from exposing the film while the shutter is open. Remove the lens shield just as the burst is about to go off. Anticipate when the charge will explode by listening for the deep “thunk” sound when the rocket is launched into the air. Practice your timing by counting the time between the “thunk” and the explosion. If your camera does not have a “Bulb” setting, you can select a long exposure in the Shutter Priority mode of your camera. A shutter speed of five to fifteen seconds will allow you to capture one or more bursts. Again, listening for the sound of the rocket launching can improve your odds of having the shutter open when the fireworks explode. Do not get carried away at the beginning of the show by shooting all of your film as most shows get better as they progress. Of course the finale can make for great shots, so save some film for the spectacular bursts at the end.

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