It’s the 4th of July, and you guys in the US are gonna have fireworks everywhere. I’m sure you’d like to take some stunning photos of them, and there are some tricks to nail your shots. In this video, Serge Ramelli shares a couple of tips to help you capture fireworks, and you’ll hear them in just three minutes!
Gear
When it comes to the gear, you’ll need a camera and a lens (well, duh). Joke aside, make sure you put your camera on a tripod because you’ll be shooting at long exposures and you don’t want to end up with blurry images. Also, to make sure there’s absolutely no camera shake, use a remote. If you don’t have it, no problem – simply use a self-timer on your camera so there’s some delay before you press the shutter and the camera starts shooting. Serge recommends that you don’t go too wide. Rather, zoom in on the fireworks and really “get in there.” Still, it’s up to you, and it depends on your creative choices.
Settings
In the video, Serge shares his go-to settings for photographing fireworks. Of course, you can only use them as a general guideline and feel free to tweak them.
ISO: Serge shoots at ISO 200 in order to avoid getting too much noise in his photos. Since these photos require longer exposures and the fireworks can be quite bright, there’s no need for a higher ISO
Shutter speed: as I said, you should go with longer exposures to get some light trails and make the fireworks seem as epic in the photos as they are in real life. Serge goes with 4 s, but of course, feel free to experiment. You can also try out this technique for long exposure firework shots, it gives pretty amazing results!
Aperture: when it comes to the aperture, Serge suggests shooting at f/7.1. First, you want to make sure everything’s in focus. Plus, f/7.1 or f/8.0 is a “sweet spot” of many lenses when it comes to sharpness.
Shooting
Finally, when it comes to shooting – just shoot away. Don’t remove your camera from the tripod as long as the fireworks show lasts, and keep taking photos. This will give you a chance to capture a lot of the show, but also give you a chance to tweak settings along the way.
Enjoy the show tonight, happy shooting, and I wish you a happy Independence Day.
[Special 4th of July How to photograph Fireworks Tutorial under 3 minutes! via FStoppers]
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