How to Photograph Fireworks

The following are suggestions we advice for taking good fireworks pictures.

Weather

Pick a calm, clear night. Mist or fog can reduce visibility and affect exposure. Wind can blow smoke that will interfere with your shot.

Location

Find a location away from competing, artificial lights.

Equipment

Always use a tripod.

Use a wide-angle lens.

Choose a camera that you can manually control shutter speed and f/stops.

Use a slower speed film, such as ISO 64, 100, 200 or 400.

Technique

Find an unusual location or shoot from a unique position.

Put something interesting in the foreground-water, a statue, people, a bridge, or skyline.

Turn off your flash.

Set the focus on infinity.

Use a smaller aperture such as f/8 or f/11.

Experiment with exposure: from 1 to 15 seconds.

Accumulate bursts on a frame: lock the shutter open and cover the lens with a black cover. Uncover the lens periodically to catch bursts until the entire frame is filled with bursts.

Open the lens before a burst to capture the upward streak as well as the burst.

Getting Started
One of the most important things to remember is to choose a good location. When determining a good location, make sure that you have a clear view of the fireworks. Also make sure that you know which way the wind is blowing, as this will make a difference in the direction the smoke moves. Also try to look for a unique angle that separates you pictures from any others.

The type of camera used doesn't make much of a difference as long as you manually control it.

Two Key Requirements
There are two key concepts to remember when taking pictures of fireworks. The first to make sure that your time exposure is long enough to capture part or all of the descending fireworks. The second is to make sure that you have a solid platform for the camera, whether it is a tripod or a solid platform such as a fence post, railing or wall.

Basic Tips
When you are holding the camera you are typically better of with a vertical format rather than horizontal.

You should use a "normal" or slightly wide-angel lens for your focal length. This allows you to frame the image to extend so that it includes partial foreground in the bottom and "head-room" above the topmost firework trails.

You should probably use a smaller aperture like f/8 or f/11 and this would keep you from over exposing the colors and instead intensify the color of the fireworks.

Your focus lens should be set at infinity for best results.

Any film type will work since grain is not a problem in this type of image.

You will not want to use a slower ISO to avoid long exposures which will help to reduce the noise that is visible in dark or black areas evidenced by colored pixel artifacts.

Ordinarily you would not want to use a flash since the fireworks provide their own natural light.

Expect to shoot lots of frames to capture the entire process.

Helpful Hints
One hint is to use a flash to light the foreground object. Adding light to this object, using your strobe and switching your camera to manual will all enhance these types of pictures.

Another hint is to keep your shutter open long enough to capture the glare of a few fireworks exploding in the air one after another which can be done by experimenting with longer time exposures.