So I tried to go out last night and photograph the fireworks. First time to do this, and while i was rushed to set up with only 15 min of actual fireworks in the sky… i would say i got a mediocre first attempt… Not quite portfolio worthy… but a good learning experience. so you might wonder how to set up a shot for fireworks? iphone not getting it just right? 🙂
Well, while i’m no master of this by any stretch of the imagination… here’s a few general rules of thumb
DISTANCE – ironically, being up close to the spot where they shoot the fireworks doesn’t turn out so well. I’d recommend finding something where there is some scenery between you and the fireworks ( a lake, a city hall type building… skyscraper… bridge… the foreground creates a nice setting) and it allows that “festive” feeling to shine through. if all you get is the fireworks … then it just looks like a bunch of lights flying around. go photograph lightning bugs to get the same effect. If you can be up high that’s even better… as was my case… not always possible.
EQUIPMENT – use TRIPOD! ALWAYS! the shots will be long exposure… so any shake will be caught and the shots will often be blurry. if you have vibration reduction… TURN IT OFF. VR is always moving the lens…. so when it’s on a tripod it shakes on its own and creates artificial blur
also – either use a remote trigger or set the shutter to go off after a few seconds. what you dont’ want is your grubby paws all over the camera mandhandling it while the exposure is running.
SETTINGS – aperture… set it around f/8 to f/12… depending on how sharp you want. this will allow you a greater depth of field and increase your changes to get the lights sharper as well as foreground objects of interest.
zoom – up to you, but i recommend either wide angle (<24 mm ) or zoom in on the fireworks and capture a few cropped images up close, maybe if you can get one popping right behind a building or structure (>100mm)
focus – USE MANUAL. it’s too dark for your autofocus to work and get a proper contrast to focus on. set it to infinity then roll back JUST A TAD BIT. this is hard to do, as you aren’t likely to figure out whether you had the right focus till AFTER you get home and see all the blurry images. on the small camera LCD everything looks just great at first. remember, manual, infinity… roll back a tad bit off the infinity….
ISO – as low as possible. try 200 or less. as you will use longer exposures…. you will get noise automatically. dont’ add to it by introducing ISO burn noise.
EXPOSURE – if you are using a remote shutter, then set the camera to bulb. take the shot as the fireworks BOOM… then as they trail off… release the shutter. if you wait for too many fireworks to be in the picture, you’ll blow out the fireworks (as some of mine did) and will lose a lot of detail. that blown up bloom may have an interesting look,, but not likely the look your going for….
if you don’t have a manual remote trigger… set the camera exposure to about…. say 2 seconds. then try 3″. increase as you see fit, but basically you want the fireworks tail ends to trail off when the shutter closes.
and that’s it! give it a try… get some good shots… and always have fun with it!
oh… and get there early. while in asian countries the displays run for 5 to 6 hours… american fireworks displays usually just go for 20 min and are always VERY crowded!