10 Tips For Taking Super Clear Fireworks Pictures (Part 2)

Tip #5 – Change Your Aperture To Suit The Conditions.  Should you be using a fast shutter speed, or something a little slower?  The debate continues to rage on throughout the digital photography community, but one fact remains.  Using a faster shutter speed could prevent you from capturing the entire shot.  Because fireworks are moving objects, you’ll actually want to use a slow to medium speed shutter that can capture the shot with a nice long exposure time. Tip #6 – Adjust Your Shutter Speed.  This goes in line with adjusting your aperture to the current conditions.  When you adjust your shutter speed, you’re making sure that it stays open long enough to capture the entire shot.  This means, that from the time the firework leaves the ground, to the time it explodes and the chars begin to dissipate, your shutter will remain open.  Once it closes, the picture will be saved onto a digital memory card for later editing.

Tip #7 – Shoot At  A Low ISO.   Your film speed greatly effects the quality of shots you’re able to capture.  By using a slower speed such as ISO 100, you’ll make sure that every shot you take is properly exposed.

Tip #8 – Shut Off Your Flash. The flash of your camera may be considered useless in these types of situations.  Because the fireworks are at such a far distance, your flash will never actually reach them, and when it does, there will be nothing to illuminate.  Having your flash turned on also alerts the camera to close the shutter much faster, usually timed in accordance with the flash itself.  To avoid this, simply turn it off, and make sure that you adjust your shutter speed to compensate.

Tip #9 – Shoot The Photos In Manual Mode.  A lot of cameras like to boast that they carry the best auto-focusing features, but in order to take crystal clear fireworks pictures, you’re going to need to get out of the habit of allowing the computers to think for you.  Set the camera to manual exposure and focus modes, so that you retain complete control over the shot.

Tip #10 – Try Different Settings And Track Your Results. Out of all of these tips, by far, the best one is to test different settings and determine what works best for you.  All digital cameras on the market are different, and because of this, some of the terms, or settings that we mentioned may not be the same on your unit.  By practicing your shots, and spending a good portion of your time behind the lens, you’ll ensure that you are familiar with your camera, and then you can change settings around to figure out which ones provide clearer shots.

As you can see, taking pictures of fireworks that turn out to be visually appealing can be time consuming, but once you have developed your skills, they will be carried on for life.  Taking pictures of fireworks is probably one of the harder subjects you can choose to film, but if you’re into digital photography at all, it’s a skill that should be mastered as soon as possible.