Imagine you’re at a celebration event, camera
in hand, waiting for a fireworks display. There’s a certain excitement when
you shoot pictures of fireworks. Maybe it’s because the lights move so fast.
Maybe it’s because shooting these pictures require tricky exposure settings.
In any case, I find shooting fireworks to
be one of the most interesting types of photography.
From removing polarizing filters from your
setup, to shooting at right angles to the wind and focusing on the first few
bursts of fireworks, there are lots of things you can do to improve your
shot.
To help those who are new to
this genre of photography, I've summarized some good tips to follow in this
article.
A spectacular display of
fireworks
Tip 1: Remove UV
or Polarizing Filters
This is always my first tip to photographers shooting fireworks. Remove the UV
or polarizing filters from your camera before the fireworks display. I have, on
many occasions, forgotten to do this and the results were often disastrous. By
the time I got the lenses off, I’d have missed several minutes of the fireworks
display.
Tip 2:
Right Angles to the Wind
Try to position yourself at right angles to the wind. Positioning yourself in
this manner ensures that the light bursts in the fireworks streak across you as
you snap pictures. This creates the interesting fireworks streaking effect you
see in so many photos out there. The other advantage is that smoke will be blown
out of your frame faster, giving rise to nicer, cleaner shots.
Tip 3: Bring the
Tripod
Fireworks (and night photography in general) require long exposures. As such,
always remember to bring your tripod along for the occasion. Ensure that you set
up the tripod and try out some sample exposure settings way before those
fireworks come on.
Tip 4: Focusing
As the fireworks display comes on, I think it’s pretty important to focus on the
first few bursts of fireworks. Taking the time to do this will ensure that you
have nice, well-focused shots subsequently. Many amateurs tend to get excited
once we see and hear the fireworks, and forget about focusing altogether.
Tip 5:
Background
Another thing to look out for when photographing fireworks – check the
background of the picture. Ensure that there are no city lights or moon in the
background. The presence of these lights will diminish the impact of the
fireworks display.
Conclusion
In summary, fireworks are a beautiful thing to photograph. However, they do
present a special challenge in that the lights come out for only a short time.
Moreover, the exposure settings can be tricky. If you keep practicing though,
I’m sure that one day you’ll become an expert at photographing fireworks.
Learn
to Take Beautiful Photos
If you want to
improve your digital photography skills, you may want to take a look at Digital Photography Success. This ebook
package comes with step-by-step instructions on how to take pictures of beautiful landscapes, people, nature, fireworks, night scenes, etc. Learn how to shoot professional photos - just like those you see in glossy magazine covers.
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