The 4th of July is fast approaching, only a couple days away! Every summer our family really looks forward to the 4th of July firework celebration and, I thought it might be nice to share a few tips & tricks with you for photographing the fireworks.
So grab your cameras and lets give this a go!
There are many different ways to shoot fireworks, this is what works for me.
Here we go...
1. The most important thing is going to be keeping your camera as still as possible. If you have a tri pod, you'll want to use it. If you don't have one, you can use a table or try sitting down and holding the camera tight between your knees. Whatever you can think of that will allow the camera to shoot without shaking.
2.Manual setting is the key here. Set you camera to Manual Mode (M) don't be scared, you can do it!
3.Setting your ISO (film speed) For the best, deep and rich color we want a low ISO. Set your camera to 100.
This is where you tri pod is going to really help out.4.Aperture, set this between F11. This is how long your shutter will stay open, it allows the light in to record the image. The aperture is what we use to decide how much of the back ground we want in focus & detail. For fireworks we want lots of detail. I find F11 to work best for me.
5.Your ready! As soon as you hear the fireworks launch, press your shutter release button. Do this gently trying not to shake the cameras. The shutter is going to take a few seconds to close, it is recording the the image. You will be able to hear it close.
You can test this out before the show. Buy some sparklers and have your kids use them tonight. Have them dance & twirl around. Be sure your camera is on a tri pod or placed on something that is going to keep it still. If all goes as planned, you should see a trail of light in all the directions from your sparkler.
Okay, that's it! Take lots of pictures and most of all have fun!!!
Send me your favorites, we'll vote on the best one. Whoever has the winning shot, wins a free photo session! Good Luck!!!
