Photographing fireworks: Capture and processing

Photographing fireworks is a fun challenge. Especially as you only get the opportunity to do it once or twice a year. As the next year rolls around you ask, “What were the settings to get the best capture?”

ISO shutter speed, lens. You know. I do this for a living and I need to review on a regular basis. Let’s make this article a storage spot. Print it out, bookmark it and file it away, or search for it on Photofocus next year. Cheers!

Lens

Choosing your lens will be determined by your distance from the display. You’ll need a wide angle lens if you are close to the action. I usually don’t appreciate that as much. I like to be relatively free of folks around while I do my captures. If you do go in for the close shot you may want to have a small LED light set to very low power so you can light the folks in front of you to add some interest.

fireworks photograph — This is one of my favorite single captures. This double burst is lovely! 85mm (170mm Full Frame equivalent field of view) f/5.6 ISO 200 5 sec (note the wider aperture worked because there were only 2 bursts against a pure black sky.

I usually opt for being away from the action so a longer lens is the order of the day. Photographing from the same place as the previous year has advantages. You can look to your Metadata to review settings, lens choice and what you liked, or didn’t, about the previous captures. I push the envelope a little by firing multiple cameras. Different lens choices and settings allow for some variety in post processing and inform choices for the following year.

Gear

I set up a strong tripod and mount multiple cameras using Platypod connections. The heaviest and longest lens resides on the main ball head mount. Smaller lenses are mounted on the legs of the tripod using mini-clamps, elbows with a small ball heads. Top camera was an OM System OM 1 (link to OM 1 Mark II) with an M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 lens. One side camera had a 12-60mm Lumix DG Vario f/2.8-4.0 and the other an M.Zuiko 12-100 f/4.0. The fourth camera, Lumix GX85 with 12-32 kit lens was mounted on an eXtreme, two Handles and an Elite ball head. I will often use this last set-up as a secondary support on a regular basis.

One camera was an older Lumix GX85 with a 12-32mm kit lens. I set this up on its own using a Platypod eXtreme with two handles and an Elite ball head. Watch for an article on what I did with those images including a time lapse, composite panorama and another creative process as well.

M.Zuiko 12-100mm f/4.0 lens. f/13 ISO 250 4 sec. Note the richer blacks with the deeper color has a different feel and richer colors with the smaller aperture.

Settings and photographing techniques

I’ll add specific settings to each image. In general a good starting place is around ISO 100 f/8 and 5 sec using your camera’s RAW format. RAW enables you to recover lost info because of the dynamic range being so great. If you need images immediately for sharing, you can use RAW + jpeg and have the best of both worlds. This setting is close to what I used for the three cameras that were set to time lapse captures. I worked one camera individually firing frames when I saw the streaks of light indicating where the burst were going. If you learn to time the bursts you will get better light trails. As noted above, the thing to keep in mind is that this is a super high contrast scene. Especially toward the end of the show, I was decreasing the size of the aperture to try and not blow out the finale. No luck yet. Note for next year to makes shorter exposures as well as closing the aperture for the end of the show!

photograph of fireworks — When you have photographed a fair number of fireworks displays you start to look for the different blooms. f/9 ISO 200 5 sec.

fireworks photograph in cottonwood arizona — This feels like a Phoenix rising above the burst. 40-150mm lens f/9 ISO 200 5 sec.

Processing

Once you have downloaded your images you’ll have the chance to massage them. Whether you use Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW or other processing software there are some basics you’ll want to apply. Bring highlights down will help recover details in almost blown out places in the burst. Note if you have totally blown out the highlights you will end up with pure white. On the other end, opening up shadows will allow detail to come through that was initially almost totally black. It will also allow some residual smoke to be visible. This is a see-saw dance which you will play. Lastly, you might wish to add a bit of saturation and vibrancy.

fireworks composite image — This is a composite with images from the 40-150mm lens. Photoshop Blend Mode Lighten was used along with Masks to blend the images seamlessly. Three images were used.

Final thoughts

Have any images or tips you want to add here? Post below in the comments or send me an email ([email protected]). As you get ready for your next fireworks adventure don’t wait til just before you go out. Practice your settings and working with your camera in the dark. Buttons are harder to find when the lights are off. Kinda like photographing the night sky.

Oh, by the way, don’t forget to enjoy the show!

Yours in Creative Photography,

Bob

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