How to Shoot Fireworks

I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting eagerly for Diwali. Not that I have or ever will burst firecrackers, but I do enjoy the city lighting up every night. I really wish there were more lights and less noise though. If you want to capture the true spirit of the season, why not start with fireworks? It’s easier than you think – and it can be a rewarding experience even for newbies.

Use a Tripod
This is the first thing you will need. You aren’t required to buy an expensive one, and certainly don’t fall for anything the big malls try and sell you. If you’re in Mumbai you could check out one of the famous stores in the Fort area, or just log on to JJmehta.com and you can find tripods for as little as Rs 1,300.

This will not only help you shoot fireworks but also experiment with lights of all sorts – even sunsets. No matter how much you labor to keep your hand steady, without a tripod even the slightest jerk will register and effectively give you blurry and less-than-sharp pics. A tripod minimizes this, and allows you to experiment with long exposure settings.

Every camera these days come with a camera mount hole at the bottom, and you don’t need to worry about sizes – it’s a universal fit.

Remote Control or Self-timer
Buying a tripod is only half the step towards ensuring no shakes. Many cameras (especially expensive SLR-like ones) offer a remote control for the shutter release. If (like me) you have only a compact or ultra-compact without a remote control, you can use the self-timer. Every camera offers this, and this is very useful – even if you use a tripod, pressing the shutter release button causes the camera to shake, however mildly.

Choose your location
This is the single most important thing and one that is often conveniently avoided. Choosing the right location is very essential for the kind of shots you want. If you are serious about it, visit some locations beforehand and shortlist a couple of spots.

Pic by G S George

An elevated view with a huge skyline is always ideal, but even ground shots can look good. For instance, the flyover on Mumbai’s Marine Drive is a personal favorite of mine, for it offers a great view of the string of lights (or “queen’s necklace”) on the left and offers a chance to shoot fireworks and their reflection in the sea as well.

Use of Wide or Tele-zoom

Don’t be content with a wide shot. Try zooming in, and you will get some nice patterns. If you get more than one burst in the same frame, even better. Like always, you will need to time yourself perfectly. If you get the right shot in the first try itself, consider yourself extremely lucky. For fireworks, especially the ones that go up in the air, have a mind of its own.

While zooming in you may find the fireworks often fly off the frame. Be patient and you will notice that even if you don’t capture the whole explosion, interesting patterns often make the zoom worth the trouble.

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Scene Modes and ISO settings

If you think you just want to have fun, and get results without too much effort, set your camera to fireworks in the scene mode. The only problem I have is that in this scene mode the camera spikes the ISO, which means more noise. Now it doesn’t hurt to experiment a little if you have gone as far as buying a tripod, not to mention the trouble finding a good location. I like to use ISO 80 or 100.

Aperture and Shutter Settings
I have always felt that shooting fireworks can teach you a lot about your camera. If you are willing, you can even try your hand at setting your own aperture and shutter. It’s not very difficult to understand these functions. Without going into the details I’ll explain how each helps in composing the right shot.

Aperture controls the amount of light entering through the lens. It also controls the depth of field. You might want to experiment with the right levels depending on where you are shooting and the amount of fireworks going off in the sky. I wouldn’t suggest a wide aperture, for fireworks generally emit quite a lot of light, and you will need to keep your aperture between f8 and f16.

Pic by Colourlovers

Shutter settings control how fast the shutter is released. A faster shutter in the night will generally mean less shaky pictures. However, while using the tripod you can make the most of slow shutter speeds. If your camera supports bulb mode, you can use it for long exposures. The way I would go about it is to press the shutter for as long it takes for the fireworks to explode in the air until its finished. You can thus capture the explosion as well as the trail.

The trick is to experiment with shutter speeds. A two-second shutter speed is a good start. You could have someone make shapes in the air with sparklers and shoot with a shutter speed of 2 seconds or greater. Make sure your flash is off though, and try not to center the explosion in the middle of the frame all the time. Be different!