How to photograph Fireworks
Tomorrow night is the 5th of November and here in the UK, that means it’s bonfire night. For those that don’t know Bonfire Night it’s also known as Guy Fawkes night which celebrates the failed attempt by a group of plotters to blow up the houses of Parliament in London 400 years ago.
Leaving aside the politics of 400 years past, bonfire night is really just our excuse to let off a load of fireworks and have a bit of a party. It’s also a great photo opportunity, so here’s my top 5 tips on capturing your best firework photos ever.
1 Be Prepared
Preparation is the key, so be ready BEFORE the display starts. Check you have a fully charged battery in your camera, a clear memory and the front of your lens is nice and clean.
2 Rock Solid Support
The most important piece of equipment you’ll need (after a camera) is a tripod and the sturdier the better. To really capture the spectacular shapes and colours of the fireworks you want the shutter to be open for a few seconds or longer and that’s far longer then you can handle without a tripod.
3 Manual Metering
Forget the auto and semi auto modes all that black sky is going to totally confuse your cameras meter. That means it’s up to you to take control and that means switching the camera to manual mode (M). Start by enter an aperture of f8 a shutter speed of 2 seconds and ISO 200. It’s not an exact science and factors like light pollution and personal taste may well dictate a change of settings (see 5)
4 Aim for the stars
You’re ready to take pictures, so point your camera to where the fireworks will be and wait.
5 Fire at will
As the fireworks start going off take a shot or two and review the results. If the sky or fireworks are too bright use a smaller aperture (f11, f16 etc.) If the firework trails are too small use a longer shutter speed (4 seconds, 8 seconds) but remember to reduce the aperture (bigger number) to stop the image getting too bright.
OK there you go. Follow the five steps above and you’ll get great firework photos every time. If you’ve mastered the basics then here’s three more useful tips…
Bonus Tips
A cable release is very handy for this work. It stops you touching and therefore moving, the camera which can cause blurred images. If your camera is having trouble focusing switch to manual focus and set it to infinity. Don’t use flash.
To Help you remember, print off my handy Firework Photography Field Guide by clicking the image below.
Brilliant, very handy thank you Gavin
Thanks Gavin, can’t add anymore to that apart from a good viewing location and avoiding the tripod being knocked and olso just enjoy the night
Gavin, there is a lot of good info there, but you failed to tell we folks here in the states, what size lens we should use. I will have to guess which direction the UK is from my property. I’ll use my 70 to 200 f2.8 and set it to infinity. I can see the Moon, 250,00 miles away, so England should be a piece of cake.
Just kidding Gavin, I’ll enjoy your photos and your British fans.
The info is great though and I will print it out for my kit.
lol Happy New Year =D
Thanks for the info.If I can keep the dog quiet I will have a go from the garden,The roof tops might be a problem so lets hope the fireworks get higher.Great tips thanks.
Gavin,
Are you going to get to Leeds Castle this Weekend? I’m going Sunday. The prospect of huge fireworks, reflected in the moat lake with the Castle as a back-drop, too good to miss…
just getting to grips with my dslr…how do you set it to infinity please ?
Hi Gavin, just got back from a display, got some great shots using your tips, thanks. Will you be posting any processing tips using ACR ? Thanks again.
Jeff.
the tips on the card , hm , the cherry on the cake. tx!
going to shot the cambridge olympic fireworks tomorrow 6/7/2012
hoping your tips work well, also going to use FRO KNOWS PHOTOS tips aswell
Nicely put together. Thanks Gavin.