Tips for taking better fireworks pictures – Kare 11

Your smartphone camera is fully capable of taking shots of fireworks with its standard shutter speeds, but if you can manage it, dive into some more manual controls. Electronic zoom on phone cameras really just crops your image and will magnify imperfections. This means walking right up to the fence, shoreline, rooftopsor anywhere else you can safely get near the action. I prefer to set my aperture between f5. You want to remove any and all movement from the camera during your exposure and countdown timers can cause you to miss the shot entirely.

The easiest way to get started is to do as I did last summer and use a point-and-shoot camera dialed into “fireworks” mode.

Some of you might be thinking about trying to capture the beauty of tonight’s display with your camera.

Some cameras now have internal timers and intervelometer functions but when shooting fireworks you will want to use a shutter release cable that extends from your camera.

The basics: hold the camera steady, or better yet, mount it to a tripod, because you’re shooting in low light, and you need all the steady help you can get. If you want to take a photo of someone with the fireworks behind them, set it up so their face is lit by a light behind you.

-BURST MODE: Later iPhones and many Androids have this feature, that let you take a bunch of photos in a small period of time. Consider taping down your focus ring for the rest of the night if you’re anxious about bumping it or if your focus tends to drift. Breaking the rules can work if you know why you’re doing it and what you hope to accomplish.

I’ve used all of these suggestions when taking pictures of fireworks and then ignored them at times, too.

Although camera technology has changed a lot over the years, the fundamental elements for taking photos of fireworks have not.

Not only will these help to make your exposure correct when paired with a slow shutter speed, but they will increase the sharpness and quality of the picture. Experiment with your photos.

So… why not try and capture these moments with photographs! Remember to experiment and adjust your settings to ideal your images. In order to remember and relive those historic battles from the 1700’s, we launch fireworks at nightfall and all become children once again, at least for a few special moments. With a speeds as fast as 1/30 sec. you can catch the current burst that’s in the sky if combined with a higher ISO and fast lens.

Fstoppers is having a Fireworks Photo Contest!