Shoot Eye-Catching Fireworks shots

[Gaurav Prabhu]

Fireworks are wonderful to watch. Every-time they are lit up, they astonish the viewer with their array of colors & glitter which lits up the sky. Many have tried to capture them in the camera but often have left dissatisfied with the end results – either the photographs came out blurry or nothing more than streaks of white light devoid of the colorful details. Here I will demystify the secrets behind getting wonderful shots of fireworks.





Avoid AUTO Mode:

The foremost things is to avoid shooting in AUTO mode. Most often your camera will fail to focus due to absence of light in the night sky. Further it will boost the ISO levels so you can handhold the camera which will bring more noise in your photographs. Again the metering will fail which will give you bright streaks of white light but not colorful streaks which you expected. Also camera will try to illuminate the object with a flash which will be useless since your flash is anyway not going to reach the subject. So better switch your camera onto MANUAL Mode. If your camera doesn't has a MANUAL mode then try to find “Fireworks” scene mode. Again if your camera doesn't has “Fireworks” mode then set it to “Landscape” mode.


ISO:

Set the ISO to the lowest your camera allows. This will ensure you get clean photographs sans any digital noise & rich in details.


White-Balance:

AUTO white-balance should do fine but I recommend to set white-balance to “Daylight”. If your camera supports shooting in RAW, use it & fix white-balance later during post processing.


Focus:

In most probability the Auto-Focus on your lens will not be able to lock focus. Here you will have to use MANUAL focus & focus at infinity. If your camera lacks MANUAL focus, set it to landscape mode which should try to fix focus at infinity.


Aperture:

For DSLR owners shooting with the standard 18-55mm kit lens at tele end, the aperture of f/5.6 will suffice. At the most select aperture of f/8.0(max for compact camera users) & in some cases f/11 but don't go beyond that as the depth of field won't affect much due to distance of the subject(fireworks).


Shutter-Speed:

This depends on which kind of shot you wish to achieve. You can either go for smooth streaky fireworks shot or a sharp shot. For a streak look, set your shutter speed to 1 secs or even less. For sharp shots you will need to boost the ISO to allow for faster shutter speeds. The shutter speeds here will be around 1/60 or more which again depends on your focal length(zoom) & aperture settings. Generally I prefer a streaky look, so I experiment with values of 1 secs or lower. Again this will depend on the aperture & ISO settings you're using.


Shoot:

Once you're done with setting your camera mount it on a tripod & release the shutter just a few moments before the burst. Wait for the camera to finish the exposure & you should have your image ready.


Additional Tips:

1) A tripod is recommended. If you don't have one keep your camera flat on the ground/surface & use your handkerchief to lift the lens upwards. Try to use your wallet or things you have to get the best angle possible.


2) Use a longer shutter-speed of 4 secs or more to get multiple fireworks burst in the same shot. After each burst cover the camera lens with a black sheet of paper to ambient light to get in & ruin your shot. Remove the sheet when the subsequent burst is just about to happen. Be careful as to not bump the camera which will again ruin your shot.


3) Try to include a skyscraper, peoples, trees or any other subject in your shots to make it interesting & avoid the cliché face on fireworks shot.


4) If your camera allows release the shutter via a cable or trigger to avoid camera shake as your release the shutter. Compact camera users may induce a self-timer of 5 secs or so to counter the camera shake. DSLR users are also recommended to use mirror lockup feature of their camera.


Source