I have three thoughts on shooting fireworks.
But first, I would preface any advice on shooting fireworks with this: They are unpredictable -- and you will learn something new every time you shoot them. I work nights often on the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve, and in recent years have found myself the designated fireworks photographer. Here are my tips and experiences, as well as my mistakes and successes.
The first tips relate to shooting with an actual SLR camera. At the bottom, you’ll see a link and a few tips for shooting just with your smartphone. Make no mistake about it, your phone won’t produce nearly the quality of a real camera, but if it’s you’re only option, you might as well know how to work it best.
1. Location, location, location: These holidays always seem to creep up on our department every year, and every year we try to think of a different location to shoot from. Plan ahead and find out where the fireworks will shoot off from and what their approximate location in the sky will be. Think of what you’d want within the frame of the photo, whether it’s in the foreground or background. Think of how high you’d want to be when you’re shooting. If you’re low, you’ll get more sky. If you’re high you’ll get more landscape.
Fourth of July holiday photographed from a roof deck on Beacon Street in the Back Bay on July 4, 2010. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)
This photo at the right was shot from a balcony on Beacon St. It was a nice view of the river, but there were no visible landmarks. Think about where you’d want to set up and what you want in your frame.
2. Equipment: You ideally will want what’s called an SLR camera (Single Lens Reflex, so that you can interchange lenses), a tripod and a shutter release cable. A telephoto lens will give you more compression (objects from near to far will appear closer together) and larger fireworks. A wide angle lens will give you depth of field and more scenery. If landscape is important to you, try to be further away from the fireworks if you’re using a long lens to compress the scenery with the fireworks, and try to be as close as possible (within the limits of your lens) if you’re using a wide lens. The tripod will prevent blurry imagery (since your shutter speeds will be slow) and the release cable will prevent camera movement from having to manually press the shutter. If you don’t use a cable, just be sure and press the shutter very gently to avoid moving the camera.
Fireworks go off in Boston Common
This photo at the right was a nice view of Boston Common, but shot with a wide angle lens (20mm). The fireworks seemed small and minimized.
Fireworks, as seen from the MIT Media Lab, July 4, 2012. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)
This other one below was taken with a telephoto lens (70mm) from the MIT Media Lab. It had a good view of the skyline and with the help of the lens length was able to bring the elements of the skyline and the fireworks closer together. It could have been improved with a higher and angle or a further distance to get more of the fireworks within the frame.
3. Exposure: Don’t be a hero -- shoot in the “RAW†setting if you can. Fireworks can have varying exposures and it would be a shame to lose a picture if you’re a couple stops over or under. I tend to shoot exposures in the eight to ten second range. One year I thought I’d give longer exposures a try, getting multiple waves within one picture. The photo below, as well as the one at the very top were shot at ISO 100, F/22 and 20 seconds. That means anything going off within a 20 second period was recorded onto the card.
The photo below of Memorial Drive (like the photo at the very top) was shot with a 20-second exposure.
Fireworks light the sky over the Charles River
Lastly, I’ve never tried the cardboard method, but if you want to really experiment, you can set your camera on bulb with a set aperture and hold a piece of cardboard in front of your lens, only exposing for peak fireworks explosions.
Now, on to the smartphone option:
The website Gizmodo - The Gadget Guide has a good explanation and some valuable tips. Just like I suggest you do with a regular camera, Gizmodo recommends finding a good spot first, and making sure you can steady yourself to take the picture to avoid any blurriness.
A few other Gizmodo suggestions:
Use the AE/AF lock: Once your phone’s in position, don’t take your shot right away. On the iPhone and many Android phones tapping the screen locks in the exposure and focus for your shot. Use one firework for metering, and then take the photo of the next.
Don’t be afraid of portrait mode: Usually we loathe portrait mode, but here’s one instance where it might capture a better photo. This is not an ordinary snapshot. Depending on the scenery and your perspective, both landscape and portrait photos might work well—heck even experiment with crooked angles to see what gets the best results.
Don’t zoom: We realize that the fireworks are SO FAR AWAY but the digital zoom on camera phones is only an illusion. Don’t use it. You can always crop the photo later.
Keep it native: Speaking of later, third-party apps introduce additional lag to your phone’s camera. Keep your timing sharp by using your built-in camera app, and upload it to Instagram later.
There you have it. Three things that I keep in mind when I’m shooting fireworks, along with my hits and misses, plus some expert advice on shooting with your smartphone. Stay safe, and have fun experimenting!
Yoon Byun is a Globe staff photographer. He can be reached at Ybyun@globe.com.
