How to Photograph Fireworks
Now that summer is upon us and the 4th of July is coming up, I thought I’d give you some of my best tips on how to photograph fireworks! Fireworks are one of my favorite parts of any celebration, and I was able to perfect my skills when we went to Dove Mountain two years ago and in Katy last summer.
Tips for Photographing Fireworks
1. Get a tripod. I bought one from Walmart for $49.99. Best $49.99 I ever spent. It came with a bag for easy carrying, and it’s probably 66″ – when it’s fully extended, I can use it comfortably. (I’m about 5’10” – just FYI.)
2. Turn your camera to manual. You’re never to going to learn how to photograph fireworks in auto. Focus your lens and switch off auto focus. I used my 50mm, f/1.2 for these photographs, but you don’t need a super fast lens for fireworks. Given our location, I just liked the way the pictures looked compared to 16-35mm f/2.8 lens.
3. Switch your ISO to 100. In a really dark space, I used an f/8.0 and an shutter speed of 6.0 seconds. On a night in the middle of an urban area, I used f/16 and a shutter speed of 6.0 seconds. You may need to play around with it and see what works for you. 10.0 seconds was too long for me. I shot the finale at 2.5 seconds, but it was the only image that I shot at that shutter speed. Everything else was ISO 100, f/8.0, shutter speed 6.0 seconds. I didn’t use a remote shutter release at all, but you could if you wanted to minimize camera shake. You can also do the 2 second release.
f/8.0, 6.0s, ISO 100 (left) & f/16, 6.0s, ISO 100 (right)
Post-Processing Fireworks Photos in Lightroom
I edit all my photos using Adobe Lightroom, so I recommend DoubleConvex.com’s fireworks presets. These presets do a great job of bringing out the natural colors in the fireworks, minimizing the appearance of smoke, and allowing you to quickly adjust the black.
When cropping photos, consider it from different angles. Sometimes centering it looks best. Compare the vertical and horizontal. Use the rule of thirds to play with composition. Try to fill the frame. Leave a lot of black space. The beauty of learning how to photograph fireworks is that you can do so many things during post-processing.
Original Photo vs. Cropped Photo – Unedited
SOOC Settings – f/13.0, 5.0s, ISO 100
Final Photo with Lightroom Presets Applied / Black Enhanced
Final Thoughts on Photographing Fireworks
Learning how to photograph fireworks was really easy – once I learned to set my camera and forget about it. Know that you want to try and shoot at the beginning as much as possible so that you can minimize the smoke interference, but it will show up in your pictures as the firework show goes on.
Feel free to shoot me a note if you have any questions! Let me know if posts like these are helpful. I love photography, and if I can help other people learn to love their camera, I’m happy to do so!
All your pictures are amazing!
These turned out so amazing! I always want to photograph fireworks but I never seem to be able to stand still to get good shots. Definitely going to try this for the 4th! <3, Pamela Sequins & Sea Breezes
Such a perfectly timed post, lady! Wow, your pictures are so gorgeous.
These are all so beautiful and this post will be so helpful next week! Looking forward to using these tips and seeing some beautiful fireworks!
All of your fireworks pictures are so beautiful! I’m hoping that we get to watch some this year, so I’ll definitely have to keep these tips in mind!
Bookmarking for July 4th. 🙂 I was successful at shooting fireworks one time three years ago and I’ve been trying to figure out what I did right ever since (and recreate it). Especially love your tips on editing. I’ll definitely check out those presets. 🙂
How gorgeous are your pictures?! I need you to come over, and give me a thorough photography lesson!
Green Fashionista
Yesss these are awesome! Ps. you have to send me your fave lightroom presets!
Fireworks are definitely one of the hardest things to capture and I’m amazed by the clarity of your photos! I have a decent DSLR but totally fail at knowing how to set the settings for different lighting and occasions. LOVE your photos!
Wow these look great! Thanks for the tutorial! I’ll have to try this out this weekend!
These are such great tips! I kid you not, I was thinking just yesterday, “I wonder what the tricks to photographing fireworks are?” Voila! Ask and ye shall receive! I hope you have a fabulous 4th full of lots of gorgeous fireworks!
Such a useful post for all the photography lovers! I’ve only taken pictures of fireworks with my phone so far, but yours look absolutely stunning! I´ll definitely try to do it with my camera this year – thanks for the editing tips!
One of the best tips I have for photographing fireworks is to get a hotel room with a great view. Or find an awesome friend. (Rooftop view ftw?)
I so wish I had checked your blog on July 4th. I had my tripod setup, and a hotel room with a decent view … but my camera wasn’t working the way I expected it to. I’m not sure if it’s been too long since I last took a picture (April?) or if I was just tired? I spent precious minutes working with the camera trying to get it to work the way I remembered it working. (I’m still not sure it works properly.) I ended up finding an alternate way to get the settings I wanted.
That’s when I googled “how to take firework images”. I do it so rarely that I had forgotten. :-/ I did remember your blog post about it, but I didn’t think I had time to look it up. And now I see you reshared it. I guess I’ll know where to look next year! 🙂
The settings I used (and I haven’t seen my images aside from my camera screen, but they look in focus, even when zoomed in!) were ISO 160, 1/8 second shutter speed, and f/8 aperture. I’ll have to look at the filter you recommended for editing in photoshop. I also used my 2 second timer to prevent shake. *crosses fingers* Hopefully I got something decent.