The 4th of July offers many opportunities for great photographs from parades to celebrations with friends and family ending with a great fireworks display! Here's some tips for capturing the best of those fireworks.
1. Location, location, location. Firework photographs are always more interesting with an impactful foreground. This is because the foreground adds context to help tell the story. If you are new to your town and unsure where the best views are, ask the locals! Roof tip views and bodies of water to reflect the fireworks are great options. The foreground, however, could be as simple as a child's silhouette or the glass of wine you are sipping from as you enjoy the show.
2. A tripod or way to keep your camera completely still. You will be using a very slow shutter speed and unless you want a special effect you will not want to introduce movement to the camera. In a bind I've used stationary objects such as a car hood or a stroller, but the best case scenario is to come prepared with a tripod.
3. A remote to trigger the shutter is another component to help reduce any camera shake. As your press on your camera's shutter you can introduce some slight movement just due to the force of your finger.
4. It's recommended that you use either bulb mode or shutter priority modes (if you are ensure how to access these modes it is a good time to bring out your manual). When in bulb mode you will essentially be in control of how long the shutter is open. You can base this on the number of fireworks you want in your image. For example if you want 3 fireworks in your image you will open the shutter when you are ready and once 3 fireworks go off you can close the shutter. In shutter priority you will use a slow shutter speed (at about 5-15 seconds) but if there is a lot of time in between fireworks you may not get all the fireworks in the shot you wanted. Since you will be shooting at a slow shutter speed and technically exposing for the brightness of fireworks you will use a low ISO (such as 100 or 200). F11 is a good starting aperture to ensure sharpness in your fireworks. The last part of the puzzle will be focusing. The most recommended way is to set your camera to manual focus and set your focusing ring to the infinity symbol (if your lens has this option). If you don't have this option you can try to manually focus on the first few fireworks and then just leave it there. It is possible to use auto focus to try and grab on to the fireworks. If you choose this I would recommend once the lens focuses on the fireworks to keep the focusing ring just where it's at and then turn the manual focus back on. If you don't touch the focusing ring it should remain where the auto focus found the fireworks. If you keep auto focus on your camera will waste time hunting for focus instead of capturing the images you want!
5. Get creative. Once you have the basics down you can start getting creative. You can zoom out on your lens for artistic effects. It's also fun to turn your camera around and get other's reactions to the fireworks. It's likely you'll capture some jaws dropped in awe and other excited reactions. Lastly, post-processing is another option you have for adding your creative touch from color toning to composites and anything in between!
Hope this information helps! Now get out and explore some fireworks with your camera in hand!
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