Firework Photography

With bonfire night fast approaching comes the perfect opportunity for some firework photography. Every year I take my camera out to firework displays to try and get some nice shots but have found it's a bit of a 'trial and error' game trying to capture them successfully so I thought I'd give you some tips on how how you're most likely to succeed by explaining what I've found works best so far.

1. Camera

Preferably a dslr camera, or one that you can set-up manually as you need to choose certain settings, a compact camera doesn't give you as much versatility as they don't always have a 'manual mode'.

Shot at 1/2 of a second which has captured too many fireworks

 ©2013HannahBennett

2. Shutter Speed

This is a vital component in firework photography as you need to use long exposures to capture the movement of the fireworks. I have found that using shutter speeds between 0.8 seconds and 1/6 of a second are fine. However, 0.8 second exposures work best when shooting singular fireworks but when loads of fireworks are going off together this creates lots of light creating overexposed images so it's better to use a shutter speed near 1/6 of a second during these periods of the displays. Also if the shutter is open for too long it can capture too many fireworks resulting in very busy shots like this shot of mine displayed to the left above.

Shot at f/2.8 creating a depth of field that's too shallow
©2013HannahBennett

3. Aperture

This isn't as important as shutter speed but still should be took into consideration. I've found that apertures between f/9 and f/32 work fine, you need to have a fairly big number f stop otherwise you'll create a shallow depth of field which could result in blurred fireworks throughout the scene. This shot of mine would have been a lot better had it been in focus, using f/2.8 wasn't wise as it created a depth of field that was just too shallow.

4. ISO Speed

Keep this as low as possible, i shoot at ISO 100 to help keep the bright colours from the firework as smooth as possible, you don't want grainy images.

5. No Flash

Flash is definitely not required when shooting fireworks as it will just take the light away from the fireworks themselves.

6. Focal Length

This one is entirely up to you, you may want to capture the whole scene or just focus on one firework in particular, maybe even get up close and abstract? I've been using my macro lens for the past few years and have found that it's not practical as you're too close to the subject and can't capture the full firework explosion therefore i'm planning on taking my standard lens with me this year to try and capture the scenes fully.

Shot without a tripod
©2013HannahBennett

7. Shoot with a tripod

This is absolutely vital for keeping the camera still enough during the long exposures that you'll be working with. As you can see in this shot of mine on the left, the lines of the firework are wiggly where I moved slightly whilst hand-holding the camera.

Here is my most successful shot from last year's bonfire night below

Shutter Speed: 0.8seconds            Aperture: f/32            ISO: 100
©2013HannahBennett

To summarise, here's a list of all the crucial things to remember when photographing fireworks

1. Take a camera
2. Use slow shutter speeds, between 0.3 and 1/6 of a seconds work well
3. Use high number f stops, between f/9 and 4/32 works well
4. Use ISO 100, keep the ISO speed low
5. No flash
6. Use a tripod

I also found some more useful on tips on the 'Digital Photography School' website, so if you'd like even more hints on how to photograph fireworks you can check that out here. If any of you reading this have any tips of your own i'd love to hear them so please feel free to leave a comment below :)

I hope you all have a lovely bonfire night and manage to get some successful shots of the fireworks. I'll be sure to post any successful ones I take!