Here’s a really quick, photography tip for getting great pictures of fireworks. Firstly let it be noted that I didn’t have three of the ideal accessories required for the best shots, but as you can hopefully see, they’re not crucial for one off shots.

What You’ll Need: A Digital SLR Camera or Camera that you can open the shutter for a non-specific amount of time (i.e. Bulb mode that allows you to open it as long as you want). A tripod, cable shutter release & black piece of card (ideally) and a steady hand.

What To Do: Get your camera set up on a tripod and pointed to roughly where the fireworks will be reaching their peak (a bit of guess work needed and seeing when the first few are set off). Set the Aperture to be quite narrow/small (bigger f/stop number), in this case it was f/10 and the ISO to be as low as possible (usually ISO 100) to give you the best quality images. Now get your cable shutter release and black card ready and you’ll be wanting to open the shutter as the firework sets off. Keep the shutter open even after the bang (to get the full explosion) and then if you’re looking to get a shot of multiple fireworks going off put the black card over the camera (remove it then for each firework with the shutter still open). Finally end the exposure and see the results. Hopefully, with a bit of practice you’ll get the shot you’re after.

EXIF Data: Canon 7D, Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens @ 17mm, 3.00 second exposure, ISO 100, f/10, shot in RAW – taken on ‘B’ Bulb mode

 

Camera RAW adjustments: +62 Contrast (to get the black and the red of the firework to pop), -16 Highlights to take the edge of the brightness of the explosion, +18 Clarity (to sharpen the whole image up a little).

Here’s a few other Photographs taken of the the fireworks & sparklers on the night:-