GroovyDoodle Photography

It’s that time of the year – Backyard barbecues, pool parties, and who can forget the fireworks or, more importantly the rare elusive amazing fireworks photograph that most can only capture one time of the year in that very narrow window of time when they are seen “in the wild”. The perfect fireworks photograph is indeed a rare capture, but with a little help and some tips from us and others around the world, we’ll help you snag this beautiful, rare beast.

First, as always, I’ll preface with the fact that having an SLR camera will make it considerably easier to capture just about anything. However, that doesn’t make it completely impossible to get a great shot with a point-and-shoot, just more challenging. The real key is that your camera allows you some amount of manual control. Things like shutter speed and ISO are important components to capturing fireworks. But if you are in the market for an SLR, some serious deals can be had on the Nikon D40 right now, which is being phased out for the new D60. Don’t let all the new bells and whistles on the D60 fool you, the D40 is one of the most successful and longest manufactured cameras due to it’s success. [ B&H Photo | Adorama | RitzCamera | Best Buy ]

Next up, you’ll need a stable place to put your camera while you’re waiting on the beast to spring forth. This can be any number of items from your standard generic tripod to something even as simple as a beanbag or sandbag. In a pinch, you can always use a ledge or a rock, but flat surfaces can pose an issue when it comes time to aim the camera because when the time finally comes to take your fireworks photos, you don’t want to touch the camera at all. Other exotic options for holding your camera steady are the MonsterPod, which sticks to just about anything, and the GorillaPod, which wraps around just about anything. Another nice thing about the GorillaPod is that you can also extend the legs and use it like a mini tripod.

Next, you need a way to take pictures without disturbing your camera.  Even the motion of pressing the shutter release button to take the photo can cause blur, but there are a couple ways you can work around this. If you have a point-and-shoot, the best way to accomplish this is probably going to be to use the timer mode on your camera. The timer/delay mode is the same mode you would use when you’re setting up a picture and want to be in it. You know, you push the button, scramble to get in the picture, and 10 seconds later it snaps the shot. The same applies here, except you’re using the delay to give you a chance to back away from the camera and minimize any shaking.

If you have an SLR, you can also use the timer/delay mode to minimize shake, but you probably have a few more options to be able to take more photos without having to wait on a timer. Most SLR cameras have some form of remote that you can either attach or use wirelessly that allows you to trigger the shutter without actually touching the shutter release button on your camera. Sometimes these remotes can be expensive, but if you have a D40, Nikon makes the ML-L3, a wireless infrared remote for less than $20, that does a great job [ B&H Photo ].  We actually use one of these ourselves on our Nikon D80.

Now then, let’s talk about your camera’s settings. You just might be lucky enough to have a “fireworks” setting on your point-and-shoot. For the no-brainer-set-and-forget option, the fireworks mode will make things a lot simpler for you. But, if you don’t have a fireworks mode, here are a few pointers:

ISO: Even though you’re going to be shooting in the dark, you want the lowest ISO setting your camera has. This should generally be ISO-100 or ISO-200.  The fireworks are going to be brilliant.  Shooting at a lower ISO will give you less noise (graininess) and make the fireworks in your photos sharper, especially if you ever want to print them.

Focus: Turn off your automatic focus. You can do it, trust in the manual focus. Otherwise your camera will be hunting in the dark for anything to focus on, and by the time it “sees” the flash and tries to focus, it’s going to be too late. If your camera has a manual focus, you want to set it on infinity. Some point-and-shoot cameras don’t have any way to set the focus specifically at infinity, but if you set the mode on the camera to “Landscape mode” (normally looks like a mountain), you’ll basically get the same thing.

Aperture: Depending on the sensor in your camera, you’ll want to start somewhere between f/8 and f/11 then adjust as needed. If the previews are looking a little washed or blown out (too much light), crank it up a few notches to somewhere between f/11 and f/16. If it looks like it’s a bit dark, back it down to somewhere between f/8 and f/5.6.

Lastly, your Shutter: This is what will determine how “long” the fireworks will appear in your pictures. The longer the exposure, the longer the streams in the photos will look. But, the longer your exposure, the more you have to play with aperture to keep from over-exposing your photo. Personally I find 1-second exposures look best, but you can get really intense groups of multiple blasts with longer exposures.

If you have an SLR and are using a wired remote, you might have even more flexibility with “bulb mode”. Bulb mode essentially lets you hold open the shutter as long as you hold down the trigger button on the remote. This can give you the flexibility to hold an exposure open the entire life of a blast instead of only getting a partial exposure with a timed shutter. This can be used fore all kinds of fun creative things that we’ll cover in a future GroovyTips article!

So, what are you waiting for? Go pack up all your goodies and get shooting!

(click for larger images)

Additional Resources:

PhotoJoJo: 11 Tips for Sparkling Fireworks Photos (http://photojojo.com/content/guides/11-tips-for-sparkling-fireworks-photos/)

DigitalPhotoJournal: Tips to Shoot Fireworks (http://www.dphotojournal.com/how-to-shoot-fireworks/)

Scott Kelby (Photoshop Insider): How to Shoot Fireworks (http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/1633)

… and, last but not least

How NOT to shoot fireworks: Lady GaGa shoots fireworks (kids don’t try that at home… or anywhere for that matter)