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BluAlien    says:

How To Shoot Fireworks (Knowledge Base #1)

Capturing fireworks on film or digital may be one of the trickiest things to do. It all seems very simple at first however as many of us have found out the hard way it is anything but simple!

First things first, I sometimes think of taking photos as hunting. I've never hunted anything in my life (unless fishing counts LOL) but I imagine that to hunt something you must first know how it acts and reacts in it's environment. So before trying to capture something (in this case fireworks) I like to know a little about how it acts.

What is a firework? A firework is basically a blur of lights in the night sky that seem bright to our eyes. If you think about it they are not really that bright, they just seem bright in contrast to the night sky. Which brings me to my first tip, as much as I hate to say it you should really only try to capture fireworks using a tripod. (I know, I know I hate lugging it around too!) The reason being, to capture the full firework you're going to have to use at least a 1sec exposure. Think of blinking your eyes during the burst of the firework, if you do you may miss part of it. Most fireworks last form about 2-5secs. If you use a fast exposure you may miss out on either the trail up or the burst and expansion at the top.

Ok so you have the camera set up on a tripod and your exposure is set to around 1sec what next? Well I recommend setting your aperture at around f/9 or f/11 I know this sounds crazy, why let less light in when it's so dark!? Well there are two answers to this, first of all remember that you are using a slower shutter speed. (So you're getting more light from the longer exposure) Secondly you want to try to maximaize your Depth Of Field. Fireworks are big (wide and deep) things! On a side note I would leave your ISO level low (200-400) to minimize noise.

The last couple of tips that I have are to use Manual focus! Let the first few fireworks fly and use them to get your focus set. Next if you have a remote shutter release I highly recommend using one. If not then don't worry.. use the SelfTimer Release option on your camera. It's easiest if you set this to the shortest duration. Another great tip is to use a wideangle lens (18-50mm range, most kit zoom lenses are perfect) Lastly when you hear the *BOOM* Get ready! :)


Shot with: Nikon D40 w/ 18-55mm kitlens @ 45 mm Exposure: 1.6 sec Aperture: f/9 ISO Speed: 400

Please feel free to post your best firework shot (medium size max) and give tips or ask questions in this thread. It's all about learning and helping eachother become better photographers :)

PS I don't claim to know everything about shooting fireworks as that shot up their was from my first ever firework shoot.. but I'm just sharing what I learned. If you know of something I left out or a better way please share with us. :)

If anyone has a request for a Knowledge Base topic please feel free to flickr mail me.. I'll most likely research it and post a topic.
Originally posted at 3:05AM, 7 November 2008 PDT (permalink)
BluAlien edited this topic 43 months ago.