Shooting Photos of Fireworks

Let’s get ready to celebrate our July holidays by shooting photos of fireworks!

It’s almost July, and here in North America, two countries are celebrating national holidays. Canada leads the way with Canada Day on July 1st, and the United States celebrates its Independence Day on July 4^th. In France, Bastille Day is coming up on July 14^th. It’s a tradition to set off fireworks to celebrate in all three of these countries 

Do you want to know a secret way to get great shots without a lot of work in Photoshop? Read on for an easy way to capture photos that look like the grand finale but don’t include as much of the smoke in the sky.

What you’ll need to shoot photos of fireworks:

DSLR or mirrorless camera and memory card

Fully charged battery

Tripod

Piece of thick black paper or foam

Remote control for your camera (not necessary but a helpful addition). Choose one that allows you to lock the shutter button on it into an ON position.

Simple Setup for shooting photos of fireworks:

1. Set up your tripod and mount your camera on the tripod.
2. Turn off Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction if it’s available on your lens.
3. Remove your lens hood or turn it around so it doesn’t protrude from the end of your lens. This will allow you to cover the end of the lens with the black paper or foam and not have any light enter through the cutouts in the lens hood. 
4. Set your camera to Shutter Mode.
5. Set your ISO to 100 (or the lowest number possible) to reduce digital noise.
6. Set your Shutter Speed to 25-30 seconds.
7. Focus on something that is as far away as the fireworks will be in the sky and then turn off autofocus. Alternatively, you can turn off autofocus and manually focus on infinity if your lens has focus markings.
8. Compose your shot.

Setups to allow for shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds: 

More Advanced Setup for Most Cameras:

1. Set up your tripod and mount your camera on the tripod.
2. Attach your remote control to your camera.
3. Turn off Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction if it’s available on your lens.
4. Remove your lens hood or turn it around so it doesn’t protrude from the end of your lens. This will allow you to cover the end of the lens with the black paper or foam and not have any light enter through the cutouts in the lens hood.
5. Set your camera to Manual Mode.
6. Set your ISO to 100 (or the lowest number possible) to reduce digital noise.
7. Set your Shutter Speed to Bulb. It’s right after 30 seconds in your shutter speed settings.
8. Set your Aperture to f/8 as a starting point. You will control the exposure by changing this setting if you need to.
9. Focus on something that is as far away as the fireworks will be in the sky and then turn off autofocus. Alternatively, you can turn off autofocus and manually focus on infinity if your lens has focus markings.
10. Compose your shot.

Possible Advanced Setup for More Advanced Cameras:

If your camera offers B (for Bulb) as a choice on the Mode Dial, you will choose that instead of Shutter Mode. Then follow the advanced instructions above. 

Advanced planning:

It helps to practice the setup before you leave home to shoot photos of fireworks. Do it in good light, so you can see the parts of your tripod and buttons on your camera. You’ll be glad you did!

Plan to arrive early, well before dark, to find a good place to shoot. Watch out for overhanging branches or power lines. Try to imagine how high the fireworks will go. Be mindful of others, too. You’ll probably be standing while you shoot, so try not to block others who will be sitting. 

Also, remember that you will be busy concentrating on the fireworks, with expensive equipment around you, so take your personal safety as well as that of your equipment into account.

Getting set up:

As soon as you decide on your shooting location, get your tripod set up and your camera attached. Connect your remote control if you are using one. Remove the lens hood or turn it around. Then, take a few quick shots in Program Mode to determine your best composition. Do you want to include the foreground as a silhouette? Or only include the sky? When you are satisfied, go ahead and work through the rest of the setup for your camera. 

Have the black paper or foam handy. Now, you will wait for the dark to come to shoot photos of fireworks, the crowds to arrive, and the fireworks to begin. Keep your eye out so that people don’t trip on your tripod. Politely mentioning the tripod legs to them will also alert them that you are a photographer. I’ve found that people are thoughtful about saving a little space in front of you as a result!

Shooting:

Now comes the fun part. It’s somewhat intuitive, so you may not nail the perfect shot the first time you try.

To catch the first volley, you’ll have to be fast. When you sense that the show is about to begin, turn on your camera. If you’ve turned it on and it’s gone to sleep, tap the shutter button to wake it up.

Now, hold the piece of black paper or foam in front of the lens, so no light can enter the lens. 

When you hear the whoosh of the shell launching into the sky, quickly press the shutter button to start the photo. (If you are using a remote with Bulb Mode, you’ll press the shutter button on the remote and slide it to lock it into an on position.)

Immediately remove the black paper or foam to expose the shot. As you shoot the photos of fireworks, you are aiming to capture the light trail of the shell rising in the sky all the way through the burst of light when it explodes and creates a pattern.

Quickly put the black paper or foam back in front of the lens to stop the capture. 

You’re not finished! Layer your shot:

If you’ve shot with a shutter speed of 25 or 30 seconds, you’ll still have time to capture another volley or maybe even more. When you hear the next whoosh, remove the black paper or foam to allow the light to enter the lens again. Repeat this process until the time is used up. This is how you’ll get a photo that has multiple volleys without having to layer photos in Photoshop.

Now, repeat this process, restarting the 25 or 30-second clock by pressing the shutter button.

What if you are using Bulb Mode?

Using a remote with Bulb Mode gives you more time in which to layer your shots. You’ll have to be the judge of how many volleys you capture. 

Using Bulb Mode without a remote isn’t recommended. It requires that you hold the shutter button down on the camera and will probably result in camera shake. As well it requires a lot of coordination to listen for the whoosh, start pressing and holding the shutter button without shaking the camera, remove and replace the black paper or foam as you watch the explosion, and repeat. 

Using the remote, you push and slide the shutter button on the remote to lock it. To end the exposure, you just slide the remote’s shutter button back to release it. You don’t have to hold anything down during the exposure.

Remember that you do risk overexposing the shot if you keep the black paper or foam off the end of the lens for too long. 

Want to learn more?

To learn more about shooting night photography, check out this post: https://www.carolinemaryan.com/shoot-better-night-photography/

This post will tell you about shooting photos of the moon: https://www.carolinemaryan.com/exposure-for-a-moon-shot-its-not-what-you-think/

To learn more about visiting Colonial Williamsburg, head to this website: https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org

For lots of information about fireworks, this article is great: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/fireworks.htm