Starbursts

With the 4th of July approaching, cities and counties across the United States will be having holiday festivals and fireworks displays. This is a great time to get out, enjoy the festivities, and get some great photos.

I took these pictures last year at Kletsch Park in Glendale, Wisconsin, and I thought I’d share my technique with you. Shooting pictures in the dark can be a challenge, but if you set up in the twilight, or bring a small flashlight, it’s relatively easy.

The first key is to use a tripod – while you can get good photos of fireworks with a point and shoot camera, it is much more of a guessing game – guessing when the burst of light will occur, and where. With a tripod, you can set the camera up and use a long exposure – greatly increasing your chances for a great shot.

I put my camera in manual mode – auto focus doesn’t work since there’s nothing to focus on until it’s too late, so just set the focus to infinity. If your camera or lens has image stabilization, I’d recommend turning it off since it can actually introduce camera blur when used on a tripod.

Milky Way

Use the lowest possible ISO for your camera (mine is ISO 100) – this reduces any noise caused by long exposures.

For most photos, I use a wide angle lens instead of a telephoto. This captures more of the night sky and makes it less likely that you’ll miss a burst that’s in a different direction than you expected. A telephoto will work, but you’ll need to know where the burst is going to take place.

Since the light of the fireworks is very bright, you don’t need a wide aperture – I use f/8 or f/11, and I set the shutter speed to 4 seconds. With a four second exposure, you can press the shutter button when you hear the fireworks rocket taking off – the burst will be a couple of seconds later and you’ll capture a great picture.

Experiment with the exposure length to capture rocket trails and multiple fireworks in a single photo (longer exposure) or crisper fireworks bursts (shorter exposure). Have fun and enjoy the 4th!