ten tips for photographing fireworks

I figured that about 90% of my readers today will be watching and/or photographing fireworks this evening as we celebrate Independence Day. Whether you plan on taking pictures with your pocket point and shoot, or scouting a vantage point over a lake with your tripod and digital SLR, here are a few tips to remember to ensure great images.

1. Turn your flash off, it won’t do anything!
2. Get off of your automatic settings and switch to “Tv” or Time Value. This is where you decide your shutter speed and ISO while the camera takes care of the rest.
3. Experiment throughout the firework show with different shutter speeds so you can see the difference each change makes. Have fun!
4. If you want great firework images, they need to be clear first. Trying to autofocus on firworks won’t work when it’s dark. If you can, set your lens to manual focus and turn the dial to infinity ∞.
5. Actually take the time to scout out a good vantage point. An image with your roof in the foreground will be good for you to remember it by. An image with a lake or landmark building or skyline will be good for everyone to remember it by.
6. Use a tripod. You simply cannot hand hold a digital camera for the shutter speeds required for fireworks. If you have a camera bag with gear in it, hang it from your tripod to weigh it down and make it more sturdy.
7. For more advanced photographers, use your cameras mirror lock-up option. This is one more way to ensure tack sharp images during long exposures. Also be sure to use “long exposure noise reduction” if you have it.
8. Use a remote shutter if you have one. Again, one more way to ensure tack sharp images by keeping your hands of the camera. Timers are another way, but you need to be quick during fireworks and timers just aren’t.
9. Use wide angle lenses if you have them. This will ensure you get the entire scene in the image. Anything below 24mm and under should cover most skylines.
10. Make sure you still enjoy the fireworks! It’s not ALL about taking pictures. Make sure you take time to just sit back and enjoy yourself with friends and family. This is one of those times of the year where we all get together and have fun, so make it count!
11. BONUS: Oh and one more thing. Don’t try and shoot brackets for HDR during a fireworks show. It just won’t work. Set your camera to RAW images and shoot single exposures. You can then process them into mock or pseudo HDR’s that will still look amazing.

P.S. Feel free to show some of your images from tonight in the comments. Just leave links to them and I’ll check them out and let you know what I think of ‘em!