Fireworks are fascinating spectacle: on very few days in a year, when the world hides itself in a dark cloak of the velvety night it is the time for this fiery art. Everything settles to rest, to sleep the night away. It is quiet, calm. The world is sleepy. Then, suddenly, the first shrill wheeze cuts through the sleepy silence and a bloom of fire appears. You stare in awe as more and more of those flowers of fire appear. All in the most amazing colours, creating the most thrilling formations high up in the sky. There are “Ah’s” and “Oh’s” of the staring crowd. And as quickly as they exploded in the sky as quickly they vanish and die.

And who didn’t try to catch this exciting event with a camera? You pull out your camera and start to shoot. You pull the trigger over and over again until it is over. And the next day you look at your pictures and are disappointed. Instead of stunning pictures of the amazing event everything you get out of your camera are boringly pitch-black pictures with some coloured tiny spots. Something like this:

Nothing of this reminds of the actual event. And finally you decide that firework photography is too difficult for you to try.

But stop! In truth firework photography is not as difficult as you think it is. You just have to be prepared when you want to make some of the most amazing pictures. First of all you need, obviously, a camera. It has not to be the finest state-of-the-art professional SLR money can buy. Unfortunately a simple cheap compact-camera or a built-in-camera in your mobile won’t do it either. You will need a camera where you can turn off the automatic operations to handle everything manually.

Secondly you will need a tripod: if you haven’t one a firm surface, everything where you can place your camera, will do the same job. Just make sure nothing wiggles around otherwise you will ruin your photos. Even if you have a tripod / firm surface your camera will move if you press and let go the release button. To get rid of the tiniest movement a remote-control release is a very useful tool. If you haven’t got one you can use the delayed-action shutter release of your camera to avoid movements.

The tricky part is the focus. If you can turn off the focus just choose your focus when the fireworks start an leave it like it is. In some cameras you can’t turn off the focus. In that case try to focus on something which is more or less in the right distance and save, if possible, the setting.

The next thing to do is to choose the right place. If you want to take pictures of a firework the place in the middle of a crowd is perhaps not the best option. Better to find a spot where you have a good outlook. Ideally this spot is on a hill or the upper storey of a house. Something like that. Now carefully get your gear ready, look around to find the best point of view. Take care that there are no other bright light sources like street lamps are around you because it can lead to overexposure.

Now, after you have chosen your spot and got your camera ready, choose your settings. Don’t go for the high ISO even if reduces your exposure. In high ISO you will most likely get nasty image noise. Sometimes this can be appealing but not in this case: what you want is a crisp, crystal clear picture of the firework. Go as low as you can, ISO 100 or 200 is fine. Set your aperture at f8 – f16. There is no general setting for the exposure – you will just have to experiment with your exposure time. Try something between 2 – 30 seconds of exposure. Now choose your focus. Either you choose to have a main motif in your picture, like a bridge or a house or some other landmark, then focus on that one. The other option is to focus on the spot where the fireworks is expected to be. In that case set on infinitely.

(New Years Eve, Sydney 2009, ISO 100, f6.3, 3.2 seconds)

(New Years Eve, Sydney 2009, ISO 100, f6.3, 3.2 seconds)

Follow those hints the next time when you have some fireworks coming up and be sure to make the most stunning photos which will amaze your friends and family.