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The Best Way to Photograph Fireworks

pcworld.com — Fireworks photos are dynamic and colorful, and they convey a sense of action better than almost any other kind of still image. Read on to learn how to capture some exciting fireworks photos of your own this summer.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 1, 2009

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  • Smokeydabear, on 07/01/2009, -1/+18I have been taking fireworks photos for years, a good tip is to get something in the background or foreground for perspective, such as a tree or your grandfather passed out on a lawn chair.
  • mydigglogin, on 07/01/2009, -1/+16Here's the article - tripod, low ISO, f/8-f/16, record a few seconds at a time.
  • BobDle, on 07/01/2009, -2/+17dugg for linking to the printable article!! thank you!
  • skidork, on 07/01/2009, -1/+13Haha, you're 15!!!
  • inactive, on 07/01/2009, -1/+9#7 Keep penis out of picture.
  • garyisgary, on 07/01/2009, -0/+8I used to work in a one hour photo place back in the days of 35mm film and those ***** disposable cameras, and when someone would drop off a roll of fireworks pictures it was the ultimate fail. The machine couldn't figure out when one picture began or ended because all the pictures were completely dark other than the two flashes of light the "photographer" was actually able to capture. We'd have to process it manually which would take longer than an hour, and would yield like 2 usable pictures.
  • n064, on 07/01/2009, -2/+10
    Posted 7/8/2008 6:33:54 AM
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  • jrm125, on 07/01/2009, -1/+9Dugg for being timely.
  • FuzzyBunny, on 07/01/2009, -0/+8WTF, PC World? This is a blatant rip-off of this story http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photo ... posted in 2007. I realize that tips for shooting fireworks are probably very similar, but the use they same exact layout for the story with nearly the same bullet points in the exact same order.
  • pissshivers, on 07/01/2009, -0/+7Tripod, manual focus, and about 1 second exposure gave me good results last year. Instead of the hideously overpriced remote, you can just set the timer to 1 second...
  • LoneWolf01, on 07/01/2009, -0/+6It's not HDR, it's just a long exposure, given a long enough time and that you're reasonably near-ish to a city, you can make almost any night shot look like daytime just due to light pollution.
  • netwraythe, on 06/29/2009, -8/+12ah-HA! Something the iPhone CAN'T do!
  • unbenamtl, on 07/01/2009, -1/+5Lemme get on that app!
  • veriix, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4I hope you're joking and not just an idiot.
  • Rudegar, on 07/01/2009, -0/+3never really got the whole fireworks thing
    even when I were a kid I only wanted the stuff that
    goes boom
  • DLit, on 07/01/2009, -4/+7OMG FIREWORKS LETS PUT THEM ON FACEBOOK!
  • umdigger, on 07/01/2009, -3/+6I just put my camera setting on "fireworks".
  • zadadka, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2lol
    Until you said that, I didn't know there was a second screen in that menu option, let alone that there was a Fireworks setting.
    Tried to Digg you back up, but .....
  • darkstar949, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2@LoneWolf01 - The Holga 120N has a bulb setting and a metal tripod mount.
  • Majora26, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2only if you want facebook to own them, along with your camera and your life
  • 4rp4n3t, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Just...just...perfect!
  • darkstar949, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Using a Holga would make more sense as you could use the bulb setting to do extended exposures that usually yield the best results for fireworks.
  • kelyar, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1it's quite an easy task: just use tripod, use bulb mode and just point your lenses to where fireworks explode.
    this way you can get several explosions on one frame.
  • darkstar949, on 07/01/2009, -2/+3For the most part, if you can't control the aperture and shutter speed, you aren't going to be able to take photographs of fireworks. You might be able to get one or two shots during an extended sequence when there is a lot of light, but nothing that you can really count on.
  • graahBrains, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Use a Diana... muhahahahaha
  • LoneWolf01, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Alternatively, he could also have just done the modern day, simpler version with Photoshop.
  • yourcommentsux, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1actually no. the best way to photograph fireworks is to strap a camera to a rocket.

    i don't get the timing of this artic....oh wait July 4th is coming up, nevermind!
  • mikeliketrike, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Most point and shoots and all digital SLRs can do a decent job shooting fireworks. The easiest/best way to do it is to just go into shutter priority mode ( the T or Tv setting ) and shoot the first couple shots at around 1" (1 second), then play with it from there. Don't worry about setting the ISO or Aperture if you're a beginner, let the camera do that work for you. The only thing you want to NOT do with ISO is a setting that's too 1600 or above, it'll make the pictures look "noisy" or "grainy" and not crisp and clean.

    The other big piece of getting good firework photos (any photos really) is getting them in focus. First rule of shooting at night and getting things in focus is using a tripod. Once your camera's mounted on a tripod, if you have a digital SLR or a camera that you can manually set the focus (twist the barrel) set the focal length to infinity (all the way out). Assuming you're not incredibly close to the fireworks, this will work fine. If you have a camera that you can't manually set the focus on (most point and shoots), then switch your camera into landscape mode (the picture of the mountain) and the focal length will go to infinity.
  • LoneWolf01, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Dianas and Holgas didn't have a screw for a tripod though, did they? Hmm... I miss 120 film and the characteristic vignetting of those cameras.
  • chris1234, on 07/03/2009, -0/+1Check out these 35 Spectacular Examples Of Fireworks Photography
    http://www.digitalpicturezone.com/digital-pictures ...
  • unbenamtl, on 07/01/2009, -0/+1Fireworks were the first really cool thing I ever programmed. I made it a library so I could plug it at the end of every dumb game they wanted us to make in school!
  • Lagger, on 07/02/2009, -0/+1When I still had time to enjoy photography... :( No tripod either.

    http://www.lagger.org/photoblog/?p=75
  • ncelq, on 10/12/2009, -0/+0I just added some tips on firework photography.....all tips are from my past experience. Enjoy~~

    http://www.phototipzone.com/photography/9-tips-for ...
  • borez, on 07/01/2009, -1/+1Nah, Mobile Twit pic them with the new twit pic flickr sticker thing.
  • rrife, on 07/01/2009, -1/+1iPhone can do anything....even comes with it's own built-in fireworks.
  • wicki1, on 07/01/2009, -1/+1Love u Iphone
  • unbenamtl, on 07/01/2009, -1/+1How can so many articles talk about such a trivial thing? I mean... is there anything there isn't a pletoria of webpages for?

    Y'know when I was a kid, you had to go through a few libraries and flip hundreds and thousands of pages if you wanted to learn about something!
  • mattharvey716, on 07/01/2009, -4/+4Dugg for the ***** HDR pic 3/4 of the page down
  • LadyZoots, on 07/01/2009, -0/+0haha what a mouth full!
  • DLit, on 07/01/2009, -3/+3yes and please use a tripod i cant stand people who use this setting and get a picture calling it amazing
  • YourMomsAnAnon, on 07/01/2009, -1/+1Eh, kinda. Obviously longer exposure will make it brighter, but colour temperature will also be way different at night. Sky won't look that blue. Theoretically, you'd also have some stars in the sky on an exposure long enough to brighten something up like that. The nearish a city bit would also cause more of an indoory yellow-orange cast.

    With film, you'll also get reciprocity failure, when the different colour layers stop exposing at the same rate. With digital, you'll get heat noise.

    That all said, yes, that picture is a long exposure and not HDR. I'm guessing they just had a polarizer to make the sky super blue like that, and fireworks started when it was still light out, and they used a neutral density filter to allow them to take longer shots with the amount of light there was.
  • trad3mark, on 07/01/2009, -3/+2Nice, just in time for Canada Day!
  • BobDle, on 07/01/2009, -3/+2btw, http://digg.com/search?s=photograph+fireworks
  • B1665r, on 07/01/2009, -3/+2Get a Casio Elixm camera, and select the "shoot fireworks" option from the best shot menu.
  • webconnoisseur, on 07/01/2009, -6/+4They forgot the #1 culprit of bad fireworks photos: don't be completely wasted or have a designated photographer.
  • 4321234, on 07/01/2009, -7/+4Remember, fireworks = it's probably dark outside. Use your flash.
  • wicki1, on 07/01/2009, -6/+2I think Iphone can do it...
  • milkmit, on 07/01/2009, -5/+1noobs.
  • tsunami643, on 06/30/2009, -13/+8Use a camera.
  • EllisSpice, on 07/01/2009, -17/+3Great article, but guess what? I don't have a camera! I have this thing called a 'mobile phone', and, guess what, it takes photos!

    (I'm ready for the insulting comments and buries now. But remember this; I'm only 15.)

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