Slow Photography #62: Capturing Fireworks

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"I have a Point and Shoot Camera"
OK, great. Here are beginner and expert tips.
Beginner

1. Stabilize your camera as best you can. For sharp pictures,  put your camera on a stable platform. If you brought a tripod, use it to get the camera rock solid.

2. Choose the wide angle setting of your zoom range. 

3. Find your Program Dial or Menu. There may be a mode called Fireworks in your SCN or SCENE Mode options. Choose the Fireworks Mode. This automatically gives you a long time exposure of 2 seconds or longer and sets the ISO automatically. Press the shutter.

4. Avoid touching the camera or tripod once the exposure starts. 



Expert 

Try to get a Double Finale. If you do not have a tripod, and brace yourself well, then hand-hold your camera.

On most cameras, the fireworks mode turns the flash off, sets the focus to infinity, disables the exposure compensation, and lowers the ISO to about 160 

"I have a Digital SLR Camera"

1. Start in Manual Mode Priority. Set your ISO to 100. 

2. Choose an aperture of F/8. 

3. Set your Mode Dial to Shutter Priority, try a shutter speed between 1 and 16 seconds. Most often my speeds are between 1 and 4 seconds. For really dim fireworks, you may need up to 16 seconds time exposure. 

 4. With your aperture (F stop) at F8, VARY YOUR SHUTTER SPEED, (16 seconds down to 1 second) depending on the brightness of the fireworks. 

5. If your shots are too dark, try an aperture of F8. 

6. If the bright blue, orange, and red fireworks all look kind of white, you should use the same exposure time, but close the aperture a bit and try again. That means changing your F8 setting to F11 or perhaps F16.

7. If the fireworks are still too dim, open the aperture to F5.6 or F4. 




Summary: For fireworks use the camera's fireworks setting which opens the shutter for a long exposure. If you don't have a fireworks setting, turn off the flash, close the aperture to the smallest (F number the largest), set the camera to aperture priority, and allow the camera to pick the long exposure.  Stand still; get braced.  The scene (SCN) mode sets long term exposure.

Thanks for your visit to the Slow Photography blog. My latest books, RUINS and RUST, and American Parades, are at www.jimages.com

Jim 

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