Archive for the ‘Night photography’ Category

With July fourth coming up quick many people are going to be out wanting to get photographs of their local fireworks display. Anytime you are taking pictures at night you will have different obsticals to overcome but when it is done correctly it can be very easy and fun.

Equipment you are going to need: Camera, tripod, lots of film or memory for the camera, extra batteries.

First step should be scouting out your location. Fireworks displays will draw a large group of people so find a location either above the group of people or in front of the crowd. If you can’t do that you may have photographs with heads in them. You should also look for buildings and trees because they can also make or ruin a photograph. Just plan out your photographs and look at everything before the action starts. Pick out a spot that is upwind from the display. Being downwind will result in lots of smoke and smoke is bad for your photographs and more importantly your camera equipment.

Second step should be making sure you didn’t forget one of the needed pieces of equipment. You will need your tripod because when you are taking the photographs you will need to use a long shutter speed and without a tripod you are going to get camera shake and blur in your photographs.

Setting up your camera for the fun. Make sure you have your aperture adjusted and make sure you know how to change the settings easily. It will be dark but because the fireworks give out a large amount of light you don’t want to have the aperature letting in too much light. Depending on the lens and camera you should probably stay between F8 and F18. Shutter speed will need to be longer because it will likely be night time and fairly dark with the exception of the fireworks. I would start with two second shutter speeds and adjust it up if they are showing up dark or down if they are showing too much light. Also need to note that if you go with a slower shutter speed you will catch some of the trails that are given off by the fireworks faster shutter speeds will mean less trails. If you have a digital camera you can adjust these things quickly after viewing how the previous shot turned out.  Check the ISO that you are using I would recommend 100 or 200 at most the lower you can use the better off you will be. Finally you need to make sure you turn off the autofocus feature on your camera and or lens because chances are the fireworks are going to be far away. So just set the focus to infinity and you should be set in the focus department. One final note is to not use the flash on your camera. The flash on the camera is going to do more harm to your photographs then it will help this is because the flash on your camera is intended to brighten up the area several feet in front of you and these fireworks are going to be more then a few feet away from you at least you hope they will be.

View some of my recent fireworks photographs on flickr.