Fireworks Photography Tips

Getting Ready

When you are going to photograph fireworks, be prepared. Make sure you have enough memory cards and extra batteries. You will need to take a tripod, a wide-angle or a telephoto zoom lens, and remember to arrive early. Place the camera on a tripod, and turn the mode dial to M (manual) mode; we want f/8 - f/16 for a greater DOF (depth of field) and a long exposure anywhere between 1-10 seconds. Use your camera’s self-timer or a cable release to take the photo with absolutely no blurring. For dramatic effect, try to capture multiple fireworks trails across the sky.

Include People

Position yourself in a good spot at the center of the action. It’s a great idea to include the heads of other visitors, as it gives a sense of perspective and dimension. Place you camera on a tripod and choose a large aperture to keep things fairly sharp. Set your ISO at 100 to keep the digital noise at a minimum. Wait for multiple fireworks to go off, and use a cable release to take the photo. Don’t use flash because it could ruin the effect in the image, and take a longer exposure to catch various stages of breathtaking fireworks.

Use a Slow Shutter Speed

When it comes to shutter speed, you should pick a slow exposure, anywhere between 1 - 15 seconds in order to capture the light trails. The longer the exposure, the more lines will appear and the longer they will look. Any faster would not catch the extended moment of the fireworks exploding. You should take the image using the camera’s self timer or a cable release so that you avoid touching and jiggling the camera. If you don't have anything to hold your camera steady, increase your camera's sensitivity to light by increasing the ISO. This will give you shorter exposures without blurs, but be prepared for more grain or ‘noise’ in your fireworks pictures.

Click Away

Snap up the action, but avoid shutter lag (the time it takes between pressing the trigger and the camera taking the picture) by keeping the shutter button pressed halfway. When the right moment comes, press all the way down to instantly capture the desired image. Let the smoke clear away before taking your next shot, so as to reduce the need to edit the fireworks photos with software later.

Shoot from a Distance

Mount the camera on a sturdy tripod and position it so that the bridge, the water and buildings can be seen; we want interest in the foreground and background. Set the mode dial to AV (Aperture Priority) mode, set the ISO at the range of 100 to 400 and choose an aperture of f/16 or more. Ideally we want a long exposure anywhere between 1-30 seconds for a silky water effect. Use a wide-angle lens (10mm - 42mm) for a broad perspective. You’ll want to disengage the autofocus on your lens, and set it to Infinity (the sideways 8 on the lens barrel); this isn’t always apparent on some digital lens, so you have to figure this out for your given lens. Use your camera’s self-timer or a cable release to take the photo with absolutely no blurring.

Recommended Settings

Use the lowest ISO possible to keep the image high quality, and a slow shutter speed to capture the light trails. You don’t want to be any faster than 1/15s, though some shots may require even longer shutter speeds if you use a small aperture. If you are finding that the camera is not recording enough light for the fireworks, reduce the ISO down to 50 and choose the smallest aperture, at around f/32. This will force the camera to give you a slower shutter speed, while giving you a very high quality image.

Recommended Equipment

Always take a tripod – there’s no other way to use a long shutter speed without getting camera shake. Use a telephoto zoom lens if the fireworks display is far away from you or a wide-angle lens if you want to capture the surroundings or the people at the event too. Remember to use a low ISO for a high quality image and you can also choose a small aperture for a sharp picture, although your camera must be on a tripod for this. Use a shutter release cable or a remote to take the picture – you can’t use self timer as you can’t predict exactly when the firework will go off.

Conclusion

One of the most important things when it comes to shooting fireworks is timing. Always keep an eye out and get used to predicting when a firework will burst - you don’t want to capture it taking off or when it has finished. You want to photograph a firework as it makes its colorful burst. W

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Night Sky Photography Tips

1.Star Trails

Due to the Earth’s rotation about its axis, it seems that the light from stars moves in circles around the celestial pole. These movements are detectable after about 5 to 10 minutes, and can be traced by your camera in the form of a streak. To photograph this magical effect, you need a sturdy tripod and lots of patience. Focus the lens to infinity and set the camera’s mode at Manual or Bulb shooting mode. With the use of a cable release you will capture the stars moving across the sky. These exposures can be a few minutes to several hours long. If you keep few things in mind, such as the timing, composition, and power of the battery, you can make photographing star trails simpler for you.

 

2.Find the Right Location

The best place to view and photograph the night sky is in the rural countryside because cities have artificial lights which cause a phenomenon known as light pollution. You need to get away from artificial lights in order to see the stars well. A truly dark sky is preferred, but artificial lights keep the night sky from being truly dark. Many beginners aim at capturing the longest star trails by keeping the shutter open for long periods of time. However, they tend to underestimate the impact generated by ambient light in the sky, which can be hard to notice at times. In addition, residual light (such as moonlight) can have a devastating impact on long shutter speed photos. This is because when you keep the shutter open for say, nearly 20 minutes, an hour after the sunset, the camera may perceive it as a day shot. Similarly, a full moon night photo with an exposure time of around 10 minutes could also look like a day shot. Therefore, it is best to attempt such a picture with either a new moon, or well before the moonrise or after the moonset. The light emerging from the stars would be more evident at this time and the picture would be perfect.

3.Use Long Shutter Speeds

 

When photographing the night sky with a long exposure, exposures of 15 minutes or longer will show the rotation of the Earth. You’ll need a wide-angle lens and a sturdy tripod, of course. You’ll want to use a cable release to eliminate camera shake of any kind, as it will RUIN your photo. Focus the lens to infinity and set the camera to B "Bulb" shooting mode. Set your aperture between f/2.8 and f/4 for optimal results, and depress the remote to open the shutter. You should keep your ISO at 100 to keep the digital noise at a minimum, because the sky is so dark and less prone to producing digital noise when the exposure is above 15 seconds. To complete the photo after your desired elapsed time, depress the remote again, and release the shutter.

 

4.Auroras and Polar Lights

Photographing the atmospheric phenomenon of aurora borealis is a challenge for photographers. This difficulty is due to frequent spectacular changes in the brightness of the light. The charged solar particles move very fast and sometimes get hidden making it impossible to shoot them. However, if you follow these tips, you will be able to get the best aurora borealis photos. Anchor your camera on a strong tripod to keep it steady for longer exposures. Set the ISO at the range of 100 to 400. Shutter speed can be as long as 30 seconds depending on the amount of light available. Do not rely on the built-in light meter, which is better left for day time use. Although any kind of lens will do for aurora borealis photography, you should choose a wide-angle and faster lens.

 

5.Cloudy Skies

As the light begins to fall, look at the cloudy skies. Watch the colors and how they merge though the cloud. Even though it is dark, you should try using an 80A blue cooling filter to enhance the blue cast of the sky and to reduce the yellow cast from the artifical lights. Use a wide-angle lens and opt for longer exposures. You can first try a few test shots, and then assess them carefully on your digital camera. You should be able to decide on the best range of exposures to capture some good photographs of an overcast sky.

Recommended Settings

Metering after dark can be a problem, so make sure you choose the best option for your particular situation. If the conditions are both light and dark you need to use spot metering for an accurate reading. If the darkness is even you can use center weighted or evaluative metering. Don’t use flash if you can help it as this can affect the resulting image, creating an area of the photograph that is over-lit. Manual and Bulb modes are the best shooting modes for this kind of photography.

Recommended Equipment

Night skies should always be photographed with the assistance of a tripod. Don’t forget to buy a cable release or a remote control for taking the picture – this is important because some shots will take up to 30 seconds or even more. Your lens ideally should have an infinity focusing mode and your camera should have the ability to do a mirror lock up - a feature in which the mirror in the camera moves out of the way before the shutter is released. This feature eliminates the vibration that occurs when the mirror slaps up into the camera housing. A wide-angle lens is the best choice for night skies, and a zoom makes it even more versatile.

Conclusion

When taking pictures of the night sky, remember that patience is as important as is the ability to look at an image’s composition critically and decide what you need to change next time to make it better. As we stated earlier, the process of finding the right exposure length for the image you want is going to be a process of trial and error (in terms of lens length, shutter speed, aperture setting, as all three allow for different effects). With long exposures of over 30 seconds, a cable release is necessary to ensure tack sharp final images. For additional variety and perhaps better photographs of stars in the sky, you might want to try a few B&W shots. Dress warmly if the weather is cold, because sitting still on a cold night is much colder than walking in the cold, so extra layers may be needed. Remember to take a flashlight with you so you can adjust your camera in the dark.

 

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