Great Fireworks Pictures without Photoshop

If you are in the U.S. for the Fourth of July you may see some great fireworks and want to capture them on film. You don’t need to be an expert photographer or a Photoshop expert to get great looking pictures of fireworks. We’ve assembled our annual set of guidelines for securing some fantastic pictures of fireworks that you’ll be proud to share with friends. These are useful whether you are photographing fireworks with a Digital SLR camera or the camera built into your smartphone.

Tips for taking pictures of fireworks with a SLR camera

• Use the manual settings to control the shutter speed and aperture precisely.
• Set a shutter speed of at least 3 or 4 seconds. When shooting, you’ll need to remain very still – ideally with the camera resting on something.
• If you have a tripod, use it and you can increase the exposure into the 4 to 5 second range.
• Set a long exposure, such as 4 or 5 seconds, and manually cover the front of the lens when there are no fireworks during the exposure time. This controls ambient light from interfering with your image, and allows you to still capture multiple firework bursts. When doing this, be careful to not bump the camera.
• If you don’t have a tripod, get into a stable position using a fence or bench, or take a seat and use a knee as a last resort.
• Use a smaller aperture. We tend to work between f/11 and f/16. This creates a smaller opening for light to get into the camera. This allows you to get more fireworks and less ambient light.
• Set your ISO to 100.
• Use a manual focus. You can focus on an object on the ground before the start of the show, then turn your attention skyward.
• Some camera upgrades that will help you to get even better images include a remote shutter release, which lets you control the shutter without possibly bumping the camera. This is helpful, even on a tripod.
• If you have a wide-angle lens, they can help add perspective to your shots. When photographing the fireworks, it can be great to get the surrounding area as well, such as a city skyline in the background.

Tips for taking pictures of fireworks using a smartphone

• If your phone offers manual settings, use these and apply the adjustments listed above.
• If your camera offers a night mode, try this.
• The same rules for keeping yourself steady apply for smartphone users as they do for those with a traditional camera.
• Disable the flash. There’s no sense using a flash when trying to photograph fireworks!

If you find that you want to combine multiple images together, or remove things like power lines and trees that are in the field of your images, this is where some Photoshop skills becomes useful. These are the kind of retouching techniques we teach in our Photoshop classes, which can help you to create images that match your artistic intent.

Sometimes it is also great to simply put away the camera and also enjoy the show. This is what several of the AGI staff are doing tonight in their local towns, and tomorrow night at the Boston 4th of July celebration which includes a Boston Pops concert and fireworks.