How to Take Pictures of Fireworks

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By stevefotos
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The more the merrier. A times exposure gets several firework flowers in one photo.

Everyone loves fireworks and taking great photos at a fireworks show isn’t difficult.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Digital camera
Tripod or mini pod (optional)

Step 1

At a shutter speed of 1/4 second I was able to get this photo of a crysanthemum burst

There are two ways to do this-instantaneously or with a time exposure.

Let’s start with instantaneous picture. These are hand-held pictures and surprisingly simple. Because the sky is dark and the fireworks are the only source of light it is quite possible to hold the camera in your hands and shoot at relatively long exposure times without a tripod.

1. Set the camera lens to its wide angle zoom setting and the big Exposure Mode dial on the camera’s top deck to M (Manual).
2. Set the lens to manual focus and pre-focus to infinity.
3. Set the ISO to 100 and the aperture to its widest open setting (usually f/3.5 or f/4) and the shutter to 1/8th or 1/15th second.
4. Point the camera at the part of the sky where the fireworks are exploding and wait for the flash of a firework.
5. Holding the camera firmly, snap the picture.
6. Check the picture on the monitor. If you want longer “flower petals” use slower shutter speeds like ¼ or ½ second burst.
Step 2

An exposure of four seconds allowed me to get several separate fireworks to be recorded in one image.

I prefer to make “timed exposure” pictures of fireworks. This allow me to get several firework bursts in one picture which fills the frame with flashes and makes much prettier pictures.

For a timed exposure you will need to be the camera on a tripod or mini pod or brace it against a table or tree or whatever is available.

1. Point the camera at the part of the sky where most of the fireworks are exploding.
2. Use the zoom at a wide angle setting and pre-focus the lens to infinity.
3. In the M exposure mode go to the longest exposure time, usually several seconds or use the B or bulb setting. (The B setting leaves the lens open until you press the shutter a second time.)
4. Wait for the fireworks show to really get going before taking any pictures and listen for the firing explosions.
5. When several fireworks are shot off, press the shutter release. In bulb hold down the release to keep the shutter open. This long exposure will let you get several fireworks bursts in the picture and lots of lovely long multicolored light trails.
Step 3

Since you will be shooting in the dark consider bringing a small flashlight with you so you can see the camera controls and change the settings.

And don’t forget to experiment with the settings. Some fireworks (the white ones) are actually much brighter than color bursts. As you take pictures keep checking your monitor to see how the pictures look. If they are consistently too dark increase the ISO to 400.

Once you are comfortable taking fireworks pictures you can also zoom in a little to try to get bursts to totally fill the picture’ s frame.