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Rounded Rectangle: How to Photograph Fireworks fhada.com

We always go to Menasha, Jefferson Park to watch the fireworks. Menasha puts on a great show every year and it’s appreciated. Here are some fireworks pictures from the show in Menasha on July 4th, 2009. Firework pictures are not very difficult to take. Interested in taking your own fireworks photos next year? Here is how I do it.

You need to keep your camera shutter open for a long time to catch the fireworks which are mainly a tracing of light across the sky. The nice thing about digital photographs is that you can see your results right away and adjust.

· You need a tripod to hold your camera.

· Set the focus to manual and put it at infinity. Autofocus won’t work because there is nothing to focus on before the firework goes off and then it’s too late to focus on it.

· Set your camera to manual mode. Most cameras will have this feature including point and shoot cameras. Manual mode allows you to set your own f/stop and exposure

· You will want a long exposure to catch the pattern as a short exposure only shows one spot of light. I set my camera to between 4 and 8 seconds.

· Aim your camera and adjust the zoom to get the right part of the sky in the picture. You will need to adjust this once you find out where the fireworks really are.

· At ISO 160 I set my f/stop to between f/8 and f/14. If you use a higher ISO you will need to increase your f/stop accordingly.

· You use the f/stop to get the correct exposure. If the picture is washed out increase the f/number, if it is too dark lower the f/number.

· Take lots of pictures because you don’t really know what you will be get. I press the shutter button when I hear the launch. Not all fireworks will make a streak. Sometimes you will get more than one going off at the same time which makes a nice pattern.

Since there are so many different variables taking these pictures you could be taking pictures of the same fireworks as the person next to you and get completely different results.

This is the first picture I took and the ISO was a bit high and overexposed. I also caught the streetlight in the bottom.

4 sec, f/18, ISO 400

Here are some samples where the timing was a bit off. In the first picture the exposure was too short and the time ran out before the firework had expanded. The f/stop was too high and the photo is a bit underexposed. In the second and third photos I was a bit late and only caught the end. The second and third photo are a bit underexposed.

2 sec, f/22, ISO 160 5 sec, f/13, ISO 160 5 sec, f/13, ISO 160

Here are some better shots after I have dialed in the setting and have the camera pointed in the right direction. In the last picture you can see the trail left by the launch as it goes up.

5 sec, f/11, ISO 160 5 sec, f/11, ISO 160 5 sec, f/10, ISO 160

4 sec, f/10, ISO 160 4 sec, f/11, ISO 160