It’s the fourth weekend of July! Skip the hot dogs, beer, ball games, and sunscreen. Not to mention a tripod and cable release or maybe a nicer remote trigger.
For my contribution to the concept of summer photography, I once again offer to republish, a blueprint for photographing fireworks. The color, shape, location and explosive nature of the fireworks displays change from year to year. The techniques for capturing them are not. Right……
Everyone loves fireworks. It has a lot of meanings – holiday, patriotism, hot dogs, weekend, kids, family. It’s break time. Time to take some pictures.
Okay, do a checklist. Camera. Wide angle zoom. Zoom far. Memory Stick. The cable release or remote trigger, depending on the camera system, could be radio or it could be bluetooth. (Fireworks is not the time to use internal camera triggering mechanisms, such as an intervalometer. You want complete control over the shutter and when it tripps.) Spare camera batteries. . Tripod. Headlamp or flashlight, or even something like a fun little lamp Maha . Energy Lamp to come in handy when you’re back in the dark. Bring your phone so you can keep track of the exposure time. black card. (More on that later.)
That’s pretty much a set of photos. What else to think about? Raincoats, for both the camera and you. You can buy fancy raincoats designed for cameras and lenses, or just use plastic bags and carry bags. Some bungee cords to keep the bag on the camera if the wind starts to blow. Water and electricity bar. You will be out there for a while. Anti-bugs spray. Comfortable clothes and shoes. The car can be quite far, and you will have to walk a long distance. advice. (Advil is always on my device list.)
Anything to do in advance? You bet. Site scouting. It’s best to know what field you’re in, where the fireworks are coming from, and what the background will look like. How big will the screen be? How long will it take? Most fireworks will end in half an hour or less, and if you’re stumbling through the crowd looking for a spot and trying to set up in the dark, you’ll only start to get exposure. suitably bright as they light up the sky with a climax and good night until next year.
That’s right, next year. Most major shootings are annual events. Oops, pressure!
So scout. Get your location. Get there early. I mean early. Like, be the first car in the parking lot. Pack a cooling soft crossbody bag, throw an ice pack in it, and know that in that bag is your food until late at night. For jobs like this, my music source and headphones are a must. Maybe a foldable chair and a small waterproof tarp. Think your way about this. What could go wrong? It’s a photo session, so the answer to that is about everything. Try to ensure success by visualizing the shot and potential problems with the shot before you walk out the door.
Like, do you need a license to put down a tripod? Do you have to call the town about this adventure? Chances are not, but in this crazy, risky world, photographers are often seen as part of a repeat offender, so it might be worth a phone call. And, speaking of tripods, here’s a tour for the best tripods you can manage. In my world that means Gitzo. I use the heavier style of Systematic Gitzos for the fireworks mission. Have relied on the Gitzo camera platform for over thirty years. Lifetime investment.
All right, get ready and ready. It’s time to frame your photos, it’s a bit more complicated than you think. First, when I shoot fireworks, I always get my frame, plus about 20%. I can always tighten up, but I want to make room for those fireworks to play in heaven. The frame is too tight, you will have color lines marking out from the top of the photo, creating interesting lines that will draw the viewer’s attention right away with them.
So give them space to breathe and determine if the shot is horizontal or vertical. Remember that most fireworks images, if they are just explosions in the sky, are, after all, just an exercise in color, nothing more and nothing less. Even sparkling things like fireworks need context. So perhaps you could frame the object being honored, such as the Statue of Liberty. Or use the semi-shaded crowd as a foreground element. Or boats and bridges over the water, with the water acting as a giant reflector filled with color.
F/8 is a reasonable starting point. Some shots I know go even lower on the aperture scale, down to f/11 or even f/16. Over time, you’ll find which settings work for you. (I used to take notes at the end of a fireworks job, just to keep myself prepared for next year. There’s really no need to do that anymore, because the metadata tells you what worked and what didn’t work. Are not.)
Set the shutter to the bulb. This mode keeps the shutter open as long as the release button is pressed. But you didn’t really press that button did you?! ARE NOT! This is purely a job for cable release or remote triggering. Today, most cable releases have gone from power cables that plug into the camera and trigger the shutter. Now you have infrared, bluetooth, radio…all completely wireless solutions. That’s a good tactic. With long exposures, even the slightest shake or vibration is the enemy, so you don’t want to touch the camera’s shutter button.
This is important, because at f/8, the shutter will stay open for a while, that is, between 4 and 10-15 seconds. (Keep in mind that if you have a foreground element in your photo, such as a monument, you must make sure that the lit monument is properly exposed. In many ways, that foreground subject will define the image.) your exposure length.)
Possible variations with your framing are the reason you should carry at least a few lenses with you. As mentioned above, two decent zoom lenses, one wide and one telephoto, will suit you.
Metering? Oops, how do you measure a fast moving rocket moving through the black sky? The answer is, you don’t, really. This is a situation to turn off a bunch of automatic modes on the camera and switch to manual mode. Also, make sure to turn off the flash. Some cameras will read the darkness in certain modes and trigger that puppy. Have you ever witnessed the opening scene of the Olympics, where thousands of people are using points and shoots, and their flash goes on like crazy? Know what they’re lighting? The shoulder of the person in front of them. Fireworks, unless you’re trying a completely different approach, is generally a no-fire zone.
Okay, now let’s set it up manually. Fireworks are brighter than you think, so you don’t have to open the lens really wide, which is a bit counter-intuitive, I know, because it’s dark. But my experience with extended fireworks is that you will suck all the color out of them. They will just register as a white streak. Be careful. You can overexpose fireworks pretty easily.
Again, due to the brightness of the fireworks, you may be able to work at a reasonable or even low ISO. Something in the vicinity of 100 or 200 would work fine. The faster your ISO, the shorter your shutter speed, which will prevent you from capturing those amazing light trails in the sky.
Some shooters time the rocket launch and open their shutter accordingly, keeping it open for about 8-10 seconds, then closing it. This ensures that they will record the path of the fireworks into the night sky and that is the explosion. This is a good approach. Give it a try.
Others use a black card. A black card is just that, a black card. Nothing mysterious or fancy. It can be a piece of black cardboard, or foam sheet. Or it could just be an index card covered with black tape. (Make sure it’s not shiny tape. It can capture shards of light and reflect back into the lens. Use matte black photographic tape, commonly known as gaffer tape.)
In this way, you can keep the shutter open for a very long time and record a variety of starburst effects. You open the shutter and capture an explosion, then cover the lens with your card and wait for the next shot. You can experiment with this trick and get really amazing results by layering fireworks into one picture.
(Also, let’s say you have the Brooklyn Bridge as an architectural element in the foreground and the proper exposure for it is f/8 at 10s. This limits your shooting range of fireworks, right. No?You have to get the right bridge, so exposure is a made deal.But, with black card, if you’re fast enough you can only explore the upper part of the sky, while also blocking the area. of the lens is recording the bridge. This is a game of dice. You have to move the card quickly, moving it around where the bridge ends and the sky begins. If you’ve ever made a printout. black and white in a dark room, think of this as burning and dodging the camera lens. Can’t keep the tag still or it will create a hard line that changes exposure clearly. It has to be hovering, sway rapidly around that outline of the sky bridge.If you do this properly, you can keep your lens open to capture multiple bursts of fireworks, lasting more than 20-30 seconds, filling the sky color sky. But this is a test! Heal yourself by taking some “straight” frames.)
With mirrorless technology and an LCD display, you can participate with more certainty than ever before. You have the frame just taken, right there, ready for you to review. But be careful! While you’re checking out your latest masterpiece, they’re still launching rockets into the sky that you were missing. Don’t get too involved with the LCD! Keep shooting! (And yes, you can collect fireworks tracks all night long and aggregate them together after the fact. But, do you really want to do that? Let’s start now, with the sounds. The explosion resounded in your ears and streaks of color across the sky, and the crowd cheered and marveled. Get it done, right there. You’re prepared for a field adventure, not a one. The adventure will be completed in your basement in post-production. Personal opinion.)
Other details: Don’t shoot all night at one exposure. (If you’re using a light bulb, you probably won’t.) But this is an opportunity to bracket and capture as many frames as possible. Also, shoot as soon as they start! Fireworks displays can produce a lot of smoke after a series of explosions, and if you experience a pattern of wind blowing smoke towards your lens, you may think you’re shooting a war zone. So shoot instantly, and quickly.
Have a great, safe 4th of July everyone! More tk…
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