Fourth of July fireworks at Town Point Park: Tips for mastering fireworks photography
Tip 1: Smartphones aren't ready for this... yet. While mobile photography has advanced immensely in the past decade, there's a few areas where they can't quite perform the way DSLR/mirrorless cameras can. Fireworks long exposure photographer still needs a camera with full manual controls.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 2. Bring a tripod. This is a must for nearly all forms of long exposure photography, and in the case of fireworks, you need the stable support to ensure the images don't blur.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 3. Use a lens that has some zoom to it. Prime (fixed focal length) lenses can take beautiful images, but they are restrictive in situations where you don't know exactly how wide or tight you need to be. I used a 24-70mm f/2.8 to give me the flexibility to go wide on the scene or zoom in on a particular firework.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 4. Understand and use the manual functions. Your shutter speed is the most important to manipulate for long exposures, however, you also need to adjust the aperture and ISO to ensure the images don't get blown out or overly grainy when the camera tries to compensate.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 5. Turn off your camera and lens auto-focus. In the dark, the camera will struggle to find a focus point. Typically, it's fine to push your focus out manually to the infinity setting.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 6. Don't try to make the same image each time. If you're using a lens with a variable focal length, you can punch in on the display.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 7. Experiment with different exposure lengths. Mine varied from one second to up to five seconds. But don't forget to stop down on your aperture when you lengthen the shutter so the image isn't overexposed.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 8. Experimentation is half of the fun! I tried zoom pulls and focus adjustments during the exposure to give this soft effect.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 9. Fireworks are usually out over the water. If you're able to get close enough, showing the reflection of the fireworks in the water can add more visual complexity and "wow" factor.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 10. Show context. Use the cityscape or whatever environment is available to enhance your images.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 11. Shoot a variety of horizontal and vertical if your tripod can tilt its head. Many fireworks are taller than they are wide, so it's helpful to have that flexibility.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 12. Sometimes mis-fires are happy accidents — like this photo, which didn't come out as intended, but was arguably even more compelling as a result.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3
Tip 13. Shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. For every good shot, you might have 10-15 outtakes that didn't quite get there. For example, I shot about 200 images and found about 20 to be usable and 13 made it to this gallery. The more you shoot, the better you get, and the more you have to work with.Jon Sham/WTKR News 3