With the fireworks festival coming up this weekend in Saskatoon I thought it would be fun to do a blog post on photographing fireworks! So.. here is a simple guide to photographing fireworks. You can find out all the details of the 2015 fireworks festival in Saskatoon HERE.
1. Put your camera on a tripod. If you don't have one, you will need a steady surface to put your camera on. Although a tripod is always best!
Put your camera on manual mode with the following settings:
ISO: 200 or 400
Aperture: F16 or around there
Shutter speed: Here is where you need to play around a bit! I would suggest starting at one second, then adjusting from there. Depending on how much ambient light there is, you may want to go a bit lower or higher than that! If the fireworks aren't the big grand ones, you will likely need to add a couple of seconds.
DISCLAIMER: These are the settings I used! They can totally depend on your surroundings etc., but this is a great starting point!!!
A great tip is when you press the shutter, hold onto the camera with both hands, and don't let go until you hear the shutter close. If you push it and release instantly, it can cause the camera to move a bit (even on a tripod), resulting in blurry pictures.
Play around with it, have fun and break the 'rules' to see what you can create!!!
**All off these images are from the Canada Day fireworks here in Saskatoon.
Adding people to the mix is a whole other ball game! Of course, I only have recent fireworks images with people in the them, being a portrait photographer and all. Keep an eye on our page for future blog posts on adding people to your fireworks pictures. For now, go out and master fireworks shots on their own.
Another thing to keep in mind is try and get some really great shots right at the start. Once a bunch of fireworks go off, it gets really smoky and they don't photograph as well.
Good Luck!