4th of July Photo Magic (Shooting Fireworks)

Remember to click on the pictures to see them full-sized.

I started shooting fireworks on July 4th several years ago and the results have been surprisingly satisfying and have found their way into numerous presentations over the years. I have a somewhat different technique and several people have asked me to share it. Here goes.

As soon as you see my fireworks photos, you notice that they are not the typical "fireworks over the city" or "fireworks over the bridge" shots where the fireworks fill the sky over some landscape. While those shots are beautiful, they capture what you already see if you have a great spot to watch the show. They do not capture the incredible subtleties of the fireworks.

Like photography, excellent fireworks design is a balance of science and art. The fireworks crafters use a seemingly infinite number of techniques and materials to generate the patterns and color dynamics of their short-lived art works. I really enjoy zooming in close to the point of the explosion to catch all of the detail and color that you cannot possibly see from the ground.

Here are the technical basics:

What you are shooting is an explosion followed by a lot of trails of burning materials against an almost black sky. The trails of light are really like colored pencils drawing a line on your picture. They are points that, like a pencil, form a line when they move. This idea that the trails are moving points is important as it explains why the exposure can be consistent along the entire trail, even though the part of the light trail nearest the initial explosion happens so much sooner in time than the end of the trail. The reality is that the beginning of the trail is completely dark long before your shutter closes from what you will see is a very long exposure.

I setup about a block from where the fireworks are being launched. At a minimum, I must be able to hear the sound of the launch, as that tells me when to open the shutter. You must use a tripod. Keep it low to the ground with the legs spread wide for stability. This will help make a clearer picture and will keep your camera out of the view of the other people that are certain to be all around you. Please be very careful using a tripod in a crowd. They can be very dangerous, especially as they are usually black, you will be shooting in the dark and people will all be looking up. Kids wandering around in the dark are very likely to trip over the tripod if you are not careful. Bring a friend who is willing to spot your tripod for you while you shoot.

You will need a camera that can be set for manual shutter speed, manual aperture and manual ISO. Select a long telephoto lens. Even fairly inexpensive lenses will work well as you will be working at smaller aperture sizes (around f8). I shoot fireworks at around 200mm on a camera with a full-sized sensor (Nikon calls this an FX size sensor). That would be around 120mm if you have the smaller sensor size (DX). Experiment with focal lengths until you get the results that you like.

Set the camera for full manual. Set ISO to the lowest natural value. This is usually 100 or 200. Start with a shutter speed of 3 seconds (yes, seconds) and an aperture of f8. Set to MANUAL FOCUS. Shutter speed adjustment when shooting fireworks closeup in the sky (no background other than sky) can be compared to pure flash photography. It really has no impact on the overall exposure of the final image. Shutter speed in this case determines most of the photo composition. It does two things. 1. It aids in your chance of catching the initial burst of the shell as you really have no idea where or when the shell will burst. 2. After the shell has burst, you will record all of the action until the shutter closes. If you miss the initial burst, the trails will simply start in space with an empty circle of some size in the middle (along with some smoke, etc.). If you set the shutter speed too low, you will either consistently miss the initial burst or you will not catch enough of the trails. At higher shutter speeds, you will catch more of the effects of wind on the trails. This can be great or make things look blurry. Below is an example of what happens when you miss the burst.

Exposure is set by ISO and aperture. Keeping the aperture fairly high (f8, f11, etc.) is really important to focus as it is not easy to focus on fireworks. Higher numbers will ensure that a wider range of distance will be in focus. Remember that lenses can be focused "beyond infinity", meaning that an object very far away will be out of focus. You can't just turn the focus ring all the way to infinity and expect anything to be in focus. You will need to use the first few fireworks launched to get an accurate MANUAL focus. Focus on a firework, focusing quickly on the trails as they disappear. Look at the shot on the screen and zoom way in. Very small misses in focus will ruin the shoot. You will not re-focus more than once or twice during the few minutes of the show, so the initial focus is critical. I do recommend re-focusing every few minutes in case the original focus is a little out and because you can hit the focus ring or it can slip. Remember that you will need to re-focus if you zoom in or out. While looking at the focus, look the exposure as well. This, as usual, has some trade-offs. The initial burst is much brighter than the trails. You will likely need to sacrifice the burst (just let it be blown out) in order to get the more important trails right. In short, set exposure for the trails, not the burst. If your sample shots are overexposed, set the aperture to a higher value (ex. Move to f11 from f8). If they are underexposed, adjust the ISO higher. Try to keep the aperture at f8 or higher.

If you have the same luck I usually do, you will end up in a parking lot where they decide to leave some lights on or there will be street lights. Be certain to use your lens hood to prevent lens flare and keep as much of that ambient light out of your shot as possible.

I highly recommend using every tool at your disposal to ensure the images are sharp. This means at a minimum that you should use a shutter release cable or remote control rather than pressing the button with your finger. To take a shot, point the lens at the point in the sky where other fireworks have burst. Listen for the sound of a firework being launched, wait a second or two, then open the shutter. This part is pretty much all luck. You catch it or you don't. Keep guessing the location and pushing the button. You will be surprised at the enormous range of unique shapes that make up a firework.

I personally prefer images that contain only a single firework (I needed to look up the singular of "fireworks"). The examples above contain single, multiple and Grand Finale multiple fireworks. With more fireworks comes more smoke and general picture busy-ness. You can eliminate much of the smoke by setting the black point correctly in post-processing, with contrast adjustment, etc. Sometimes, the smoke is really cool. Remember that they only send up one firework at a time early in the show, so make the best of that time.

Post-processing fireworks pictures is pretty easy. Use the black point or contrast to set the background. I like to make it really black and eliminate most smoke or clouds, but not always. The colors are very saturated to begin with, but a little saturation makes them pop. Use a bit of extra noise reduction because the long exposures usually mean more noise. Sharpen just a bit. An application of Tonal Contrast in Nik Software's Color Efex Pro adds a little extra magic.

BTW, if you want to shoot a more traditional fireworks landscape, the rules are pretty much the same. You'll need to substitute a wide-angle lens for the telephoto and you'll need to work a bit harder on exposure so the static items (buildings, bridges, etc.) are correctly exposed.

Here's wishing you great pictures on the 4th.