Our updated guide to photographing fireworks

[DPNow]

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It's fireworks season in parts of the UK, so here is our latest guide to getting it right on fireworks night, including advice on what not to do, how to get the exposure just right and tips on post processing as well.

Click here to read the whole article...

[Ian]

Is anyone here planning to photograph a fireworks event this Guy Fawkes?

Ian

[veggiesosage]

Here's a flickr slideshow of some firework shots I took yesterday. Not the best ones I've ever done (I didn't take enough time to set up properly like a dork) but I like to keep the surroundings in as well, gives it a bit of context.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by veggiesosage

Here's a flickr slideshow of some firework shots I took yesterday. Not the best ones I've ever done (I didn't take enough time to set up properly like a dork) but I like to keep the surroundings in as well, gives it a bit of context.

I like these a lot - although clearly you should have used a tripod Framing is excellent though.

It looks like you needed one shot (and exposure setting) for the fireworks and one for the surrounding area. You could of course cheat and photograph the scene with exposure optimised for that and then change the exposure (reduce the brightness) for the fireworks. Then you could simply paste the fireworks into the previously shot scene.

I might try that next time!

Ian

[veggiesosage]

Needed to use a tripod? Some of those were 10 sec exposures, a tripod was most certainly in use.

But the schoolboy errors included leaving the image stabilisation switched on and the focus being a bit iffy. All down to rushing about after not allowing myself enough set-up time. Mind you it's nearly 3 years since I last shot fireworks and I'd forgotten everything.

What I've done in the past is set up position and the exposure more or less correct for the background but with a fairly small aperture. Guessing how high the buggers are gonna fly can be a bit of an issue. Also, no matter what you do you are going to get serious contrast issues so RAW shooting is essential.

[Ian]

Sorry about the tripod comment but the framing didn't look absolutely consistent so I thought you were hand-holding the camera (I do that all the time, although not for the last batch of fireworks shots).

Ian

[veggiesosage]

Nah, I was changing position a bit every now and again. Again, lack of preparation to blame here, should have got the best set up in advance