Photo tips: Fireworks

Friday, November 6, 2009 Posted in Tuition

With Bonfire night being upon us a few people asked me the best way to photograph fireworks.

Arrive early find a good vantage point – avoid obstructions unless there’s a landmark you want in the images.
Use a tripod and cable release or self timer.
Wide-angle or standard focal lengths are normally best for fireworks photography, or try zooming in on where you think the action will be.
Turn off the flash.
Set focus to infinity (via Manual mode).
Manual exposure with 2-30 secs at f8 – ISO100, try some test shots and see what you get
It’s impossible to time it right every time… so shoot lots of images.

To get you in the mood, here’s a shot that I took of the Chinese New Year fireworks in Hong Kong in 1998, shot using a Nikon F5 film camera at about 2-5 seconds at approx f5.6-8 probably on ASA400 film, obviously I can’t remember exactly how I took it – it was 11 years ago!