Learning to Shoot Fireworks pictures

[Vinny O'Hare]

I have to admit I usually get lucky when trying to shoot pictures. Debbie says I have an eye for it but I say there is a lot of luck involved. On the fourth of July we went down the end of our street to shoot some pictures of the fireworks.

Debbie told me what settings the camera should be on and I got some pretty good shots considering Manhattan is about 8 miles away as the crow flies. The major thing when shooting fireworks is to keep the camera steady and use a remote control. You would be amazed at how much your camera moves when you click the shutter button.

We set up our tripods but it was too windy so we took the camera and placed them on the poles that were holding the bulkhead together. The wind didn't affect them at all and we got some pretty good pictures.

To shoot fireworks you need to set your camera on manual mode bulb setting and set the ISO to 100 or 200. Like I said it is very important to keep the camera steady.

[Vinny O'Hare]

[Vinny O'Hare]

The shot could have been a lot better since we were not using a remote and we didn't have the camera on a good tripod. I got lucky but having the camera set the right way it is still a nice picture. Another thing I should add is shoot and keep shooting as you can always edit the picture later. If you don't have a picture to edit you have nothing. This picture has not been altered in photoshop and I love the way the fireworks reflect over the water.

[godbrick]

I can never shoot any good firework pictures. I assume by ISO you are talking about shutter speed and that was probably one of my main problems. I was using a digital camera (200 dollar camera) and a monopod. I think if I upgrade to a tripod I will be set. I am lighting off a good size firework display for Halloween. I hope I can at least take one picture that comes out as well as yours did.

[Deborah aka Loxly]

ISO is "film speed" which of course is digital now. The higher the ISO the shorter your shutter speed but also the more "noise" or grainyness in your photo. I'll try and start a thread and post some examples. I think I deleted the high ISO grainy images already, but can shoot some more if the weather cooperates. They won't be fireworks, but they will show you the difference.