Fireworks Display, New London, Connecticut (Sponsored by Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation)
Creative Fireworks Photos
Taking exciting photographs of fireworks is fairly but it does require a few special considerations. I've gotten really nice photos of fireworks displays with both DSLR and point-and-shoot digital cameras and honestly I'm not sure one is automatically better for the job than the other. And while a DSLR will admittedly give you more flexibility, there is something to be said for the convenience of using a simpler camera (particularly when you consider you'll be working in the dark and probably in a crowd).
Interestingly, with fireworks you're usually shooting long exposures of a bright light-emitting moving subject against a dark background. Before this sends your head spinning with exposure questions though, you should know that getting an interesting photograph of fireworks provides a lot more exposure leeway than you might think.
There are actually two methods for capturing fireworks: one is to use a very long exposure to capture a series of bursts and the other is to use a somewhat shorter exposure to capture a single burst (or several bursts occurring in the same area at approximately the same instant).
Technique #1: Long Exposures and Multiple Bursts
Using long exposures is the more traditional method of shooting fireworks, I think, and it's the best technique to use if you're trying to include a foreground (as in the shot of New London harbor) or when you simply want to fill the shot with lots of different light patterns. Heres the basic procedure:
With your camera mounted on a tripod (and I tend to use a relatively wide-angle lens of about 20-28mm in 35mm terms), aim you camera at either the sky (if all you want are the fireworks themselves) or a scene in which the fireworks will play a part. To capture the shot of the harbor, I arrived fairly early and managed to get a shot near the front of the wharf so that I could get the boats and water in the foreground. And at popular events, trust me, getting there early is half of the game.
With your camera set to manual exposure, set the shutter speed to "B" (which stands for "bulb" so that you can make long time exposures. Set the f/stop to a moderately small aperture (f/8 or smaller on a DSLR). I tend also to set a relatively low ISO speed of around 100 or 200 just to keep the very bright explosions from washing out. You will have to experiment with exposures (checking the LCD) as the night progresses.
To make the actual exposure, use a locking cable release (most digital camera makers offer an electronic cable release that has a locking capability) to fire the shutter. In terms of composition, at this point you either have to wait for the first bursts to hit the sky or just open the shutter when you anticipate that shells are about to be fired. I often blow the first few shots because I'm still trying to figure out where the fireworks are going to "land" in the sky and often have to reposition the camera a few times. Dont panic though if you think youve mis-framed the scene, just write-off the first few frames and make your corrections.
Once you think you've captured an interesting assortment of bursts, close the shutter. At this point I usually check the LCD carefully to see how close I am with both exposure and framing and make whatever adjustments are needed. If the fireworks appear to be overexposing (washing out), either use a smaller f/stop or a shorter shutter speedor both. If the shots are too dark (usually a good thing because you can brighten dark shots a bit in editing, but it's impossible to bring back detail that isn't there), then open the lens slightly or increase exposure time.
Another trick you can use is to place a piece of black cardboard (or a lens cap if you're careful not to jiggle the camera) over the lens between bursts. I find that if the sky is dark enough, thats not always necessary. Again though, experiment, check your LCD (the picture, not the histogram which is a complete waste of time in this situation because you ARE going to get highlight spikes regardless) and bracket the exposure factors a bit. There is a lot of exposure latitude here provided you're not overexposing. Don't overexpose!
Overexposure example. This is an example of a fireworks burst that has gotten too long an exposure.
Well-exposed shot of a fireworks burst.
Technique #2: Short Handheld Exposures
The second method is much easier, doesn't require a cable release (or a manual exposure mode) and works better with simpler cameras and when the foreground is not a consideration. In the two photos below, for example, I used a simple point-and-shoot method to make fun photos without any hassles. It's a good method to use when you're real mission is having fun with friends and family and not a photo assignment.
To shoot fireworks using this technique you simply aim at a bright display (see the images here) or an area of the sky where there are several bursts going off simultaneously and shoot. Simply set a relatively high ISO (400 or 800) and aim-and-fire once you see an interesting display in the sky. Its that simple and Ive gotten a lot of fine shots that way.
I prefer to use a point-and-shoot camera for this kind of shot and one of the reasons (other than I don't have to disrupt the crowd or trip people with my tripod), is that you can see the bursts through the peephole viewfinder as youre shooting. With a DSLR, of course, the viewfinder blocks out during the exposure making composition a bit of a gamble.
Again, once you've made a few exposures, review them on the LCD and make any necessary exposure adjustments (setting a higher or lower ISO is usually the simplest way). If you shoot enough, you'll get some interesting shots.
Whatever method you choose, take time to just watch the fireworks! I cant tell you how many times I leave a 4th of July display feeling like I really didnt see the show. So, take time to put down the camera and look around. You cant replace the experience with a photograph.
Fireworks display, photographed at the Stratford, Connecticut annual 4th of July display. Captured in a single short exposure using a handheld camera.
Fireworks display, photographed at the Milford, Connecticut annual 4th of July display. Captured in a single short exposure using a handheld camera.
Technique #3: Montage Several Frames in Photoshop
Of course, another method for creating interesting and creative images
of fireworks is to capture a series of individual bursts--one on each
frame--and then montage them in Photoshop. That's exactly what I did
for the shot above. I had a bunch of images that I thought were
interesting, but alone they just didn't have enough power. So I took
about a half dozen and put each image onto its own layer and then used
the "move" tool to arrange them. Once I had an arrangement that I like,
I simply zapped the saturation a bit using hue and saturation and then
flattened the image.
Nothing in photography is a failure--you simply have to find creative ways to give them new life.
