Once you master the technique of photographing fireworks it’s an easily repeatable process – I now have my defaults well versed and ready to go when I need them.
Planning is key!
This is the most important part of this article – before you attend the display you need to figure out where you want to be – and the golden rule to remember is that you must be upwind of the display (i.e. the wind needs to be on your back). If not, then you will be capturing the image through the smoke of the explosions and it just won’t work. So – the weather forecast is the first thing to check – once you know this you can start to figure out where you want to be to capture your images. Think about the foreground as well as the sky; although the star of the show is in the air you really want them within their surroundings otherwise they could just be anywhere.
There will of course be restrictions on where you can stand – but you have to think outside the box here because standing with the hundreds of others is not where you want to be. Get there early, talk to the organisers to find out where you can and can’t go remembering the upwind golden rule, and get set up. A tripod and a way of firing the shutter without touching the camera is essential (I use a very simple remote switch which is perfect for this).
In terms of composition it’s better to have a little spare around the fireworks themselves that you can crop later than to have the fireworks exploding out of shot, and do think about some foreground in your composition. You have to imagine where the fireworks are going to be and after the first couple of shots be ready to adjust the zoom, or move closer / further away if that’s an option.
Here’s my process – I use a 10 – 18 mm lens if I know I can get in close, or my 18 – 135 if I know I’ll need to be further away.
- RAW Mode – absolute must – read my article on what RAW mode is.
- F16 apperture – this is quite small, and will ensure that the image is sharp from back to front and allow the longer exposure times you need.
- ISO 100 – this provides the best quality images as well as allowing you to take longer exposures (remember – if you double the ISO to make the sensor more sensitive to light, you halve the exposure)
- Focus to infinity – if you do not have a manual focus scale then you should pre-focus the camera to infinity by focussing on something as far away as you can (the moon, a distant streetlight) and then set the camera to manual focus, without touching it.
- Switch off any image stabilisation gizmos that the camera may have. They are not needed on a tripod.
- As soon as the display starts fire the shutter and keep it open for around 20 – 30 seconds. See what you have and adjust the composition if you have the fireworks exploding out of frame (or if you are too far away) – remember if you adjust the zoom on the lens you may need to re-focus!
- Once you have the composition right just keep shooting. You have no idea of what’s coming so open the shutter, watch the display and try and finish the exposure just after a big explosion. Repeat until the display finishes, go home and see what you have! Do not be disheartened if the images don’t look as you’d hoped on the LCD screen on the camera – the RAW editing process will transform them.
- Once you have the images on your computer you’ll need to edit the raw files and try and find the balance by turning the highlights right down to give the sharp lines such as in the example above, turn the shadows up to bring out some of the foreground detail, and adjust the exposure to try and bring some of the colour of the sky through.
- Processing the RAW file into the finished article is a subject all in itself but the key thing is that the RAW files can be dug out again in the future and you can start again as your editing skills develop.