Wednesday, 5 April 2017

low light - What settings should I be using to photograph fireworks?


As it's heading into firework season (with Thanksgiving, Guy Fawkes, and New Years), I've never been particularly successful at photographing fireworks. In previous years I think I've always had too long an exposure, but what do you think I should be using?


Given the fireworks tend to not be in too predictable a location, would I be better off going faster with a handheld shot, or go longer and wider with a tripod, and crop later?



Answer



In addition to the tripod I use a remote to trigger exposures around 8 second. Or you could set it to 'bulb' (or the equivalent on your camera) and click to open and close the shutter manually with the remote, so you can capture the action you desire.


I've shot fireworks at 200 ISO, no need to go higher, in my experience. In fact I stop down the aperture to F/8 or F/11.


Example (Rose Bowl Fourth of July show, from Colorado Street bridge in Pasadena, CA):



Fireworks


(click for more examples)


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