Taking Pictures Of Fireworks

July 1, 2008

Taking digital photos of fireworks can be a bit tricky. By using a few basic rules however you should be able to get at least a few good shots that will impress your friends and family, even if your a novice photographer.

Focus, Focus, Focus - Auto focus does not work very well with fireworks, at least on the cameras I have used. So I’ve always used manual focus, carefully set up before the fireworks start. The biggest danger is that you must not inadvertently bump or touch the focus ring of the lens if you’re zooming in or out. This happened to me a once, and I ended up with nearly all the pictures out of focus, big time! I’m almost thinking of using a small piece of masking tape to the hold the focusing ring into position. Set your focus on something a few hundred feet away. That with the proper f-stop will put everything in focus to infinity. Handy online calculator can be found at here.

ISO Setting - Use the lowest ISO setting, normally 100

F-stop - Somewhere between F/8 or F/11. If your f-stop is to open, you will end up blowing out large sections of the picture in the center of the firework burst.

Shutter speed - Anywhere from 1 to 4 seconds. Shorter exposures are better for star type bursts, longer ones to get the willow tree effect. Typically one would use what historically was called the ‘bulb’ setting along with a cable release. Digital cameras have the electronic version of that.  A store specializing in camera accessories will likely have one for your camera.  If your camera does not have a bulb setting you can use the remote (if it has one) with a preset shutter speed of a couple of seconds. Unfortunately changing shutter speeds for different effects will be a bit of a pain. Last resorts would be to use a built in timer, set to minimum, or actually (very gently) pushing shutter button as if taking a regular picture. Obviously you’ll also need a tripod.

Other Considerations - After taking a few shots you might want to review what you’ve got. Inspect a picture or two very carefully by zooming in and scrolling around, and making adjustments to your settings as needed. Fat trails mean either out of focus, or over exposure (close down f-stop). Also look at other objects in the picture, such as distant street lights to confirm focus. Also be sure to turn off review, or you will have to wait for the review screen to disappear before you can take the next picture.

Happy shooting.

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