Introduction

In this guide you will learn how I approach shooting and editing images of fireworks. Be it Guy Fawkes, 4th July, or New Years celebrations (in Scotland, we call that Hogmanay), this guide will help you master this type of photography.

Guy Fawkes

In the United Kingdom - Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales, we celebrate Guy Fawkes on the 5th of November. (Not so much in Ireland, who celebrate Samhain instead). In the early 17th century, Fawkes and conspirators attempted to detonate the Houses of Parliament in London, England to bring down the establishment and take out King James VI who was the Catholic King of England at the time. Fawkes was caught before the plot could be actioned and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. However, at his execution on 31 January, he died when his neck was broken as he was hanged, with some sources claiming that he deliberately jumped to make this happen; he thus avoided the agony of his sentence. He became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in the UK as Guy Fawkes Night since 5 November 1605, when his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by fireworks. This tradition has continued until today, however back yard fireworks have become slightly marginalized in recent years due to government attempting to interfere with the personal freedom of citizens’ on their own land. This is a tradition I long can remember since a child. I remember waiting for weeks up until the evening, and on the 5th November, waiting on my father returning from work so we could watch the fireworks shoot into the sky from our very own garden. We also liked to visit larger, organized firework displays. This is a tradition that I have carried on with my son and long hope to do so. As long as they are used sensibly; it is my opinion that citizens should be allowed the personal freedom to use them on their own land, with safety restrictions of course. Otherwise where does the erosion of rights end? In Scotland, like many other countries around the globe, this is becoming an increasing problem; as the nanny-state intervenes in all aspects of our lives. Insert some Ron Swanson quote right here…

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

One of my favourite times of year, it is customary for children to take part and use sparklers as seen here. (85mm f/1.4D and D810 here by the way). You can see I misplaced his gloves so he is wearing socks for protection. If you have children, you will no doubt want a good picture of them doing this to look back on one day. I suggest using a fast aperture prime lens, the faster the better (more on this later).

Equipment

Standard tripod based Firework Photography can be done with nearly any camera that has a manual control over exposure, or ‘M’ setting located on the body or in the menu. The other good news, is that it can be done with nearly any lens, with any aperture size. This is because when we image fireworks we are nearly always stopped down as the moment the fireworks start exploding there is actually a great deal of light emitted from them; so we don’t need wide apertures in order to gather light (at least not when using a tripod for this type of shooting, more later). The only other real piece of equipment we need is a tripod, and a remote release / exposure delay setting in the camera to reduce and vibration from pressing the shutter button. In essence, it is very simple and can be carried out with the equipment you already own:

• Camera

• Lens

• Tripod

Monitor Brightness

One of the biggest pitfalls of obtaining good exposure levels at night for fireworks and in astro photography is having the LCD monitor (or viewfinder brightness) of the camera up at extremely high levels for low light. Brightness and exposure are different things entirely (we won’t get too deep into this topic right now, that is for another day), however having the monitor up at it’s maximum brightness for example, will mean that the files will appear extremely dark when we observe them on our editing monitors after the fact. For this reason, it is extremely important that we shoot at very low level brightness for this specific task. If the camera you are using has a warm ‘red’ display mode, turn it on, and drop it’s brightness down (perhaps after focusing) and then try to leave it there. If the camera that you are using doesn’t have this mode and uses the normal white bright lettering on the display, it is important to knock that right down to protect dark adapted eyes, and also prevent the potential for underexposure. Use the histogram to determine exposure, not the brightness of the LCD monitor.

Settings

To ensure we get sharp pictures from this we need to engage exposure delay mode, a timer, or use a remote release so that the camera does not incur any undue movement when taking the shot. We need to be in manual exposure mode, and also need to either auto focus (if there is enough light at infinity - a street lamp perhaps), or move the lens into focus manually. Firework photography, like many genres has a fluidity to the process and end result - and in that way there are no rights or wrongs so I cannot give you the one time, use all settings. However let us explore the general arena we should find ourselves in:

• Base ISO - 500

• Exposure time of 1 - 30 seconds

• Aperture stopped down 2-3 stops generally speaking

• Manual exposure mode

• Manual focus mode

• White balance 3500K to daylight (lock it in to keep consistency later

• RAW exposure mode

• Use Interval Timer Shooting Mode in Camera if available

The above settings depend on several factors, so let’s explore that. If we wish to capture only a singular firework, or only a small number as I have shown in the shot below, we need to keep our shutter speed on the lower end of the spectrum. If we take a 20-30 second exposure, every firework will register in our final shot, and it could get quite crowded because of that, and also perhaps become too overexposed, as the light from each one is additive. This is why we need to review what we are doing on the night constantly, to see if what we are using as settings is working. If for example the scene was too bright / had too many fireworks, the easiest fix is to simply reduce the exposure time significantly and try again. There is a balancing act - in many ways we have no idea how many fireworks are coming in the next shot, so our settings need to be fluid at their core. Exposure levels are a constant consideration with all photography and it is important in this genre also. The scene may have eternal light from streetlights, cloud might induce some light pollution back onto the scene, and the size and scale of the fireworks might mean we need to stay at base ISO. Most of the time with fireworks, I prefer to shoot at base ISO to protect the highlight latitude in the RAW file. In ultra dark situations, whereby there is drastically less light from both the fireworks and the environment you find yourself in, I will use ISO 400-500. I won’t go above this. (Think - dynamic range). With the D810 and Z8, this is the dual gain point in the sensor and it makes sense to shoot darker scenes here that will require lifting in post processing to balance the shadow - highlight range in the file. If we go above this, we are burning up the dynamic range and we will often find that fireworks go white and loose all detail - especially if we are not careful with our exposure times. Keep ISO low: at or close to base ISO. If you feel you need a little more than base ISO, I recommend consulting photonstophotos.net to check the most efficient ISO for your particular camera in the dark. Please note, that when reviewing shots in the darkness, many will look underexposed because we are shooting to protect the highlights. It is better to have this problem as it can be fixed later. Do not bin any files yet. Make sure you knock your monitor brightness right down as previously mentioned in this guide.

Back Yard Fireworks

I love to photograph life. So when photographing fireworks in my garden, I like to change it up so I am not stuck at a tripod. I am usually happy if I get a couple of good pictures to document the night, then I sit back and enjoy. This is where fast prime lenses come into play. This gives the clear advantage over zoom lenses in light collection, and provides a very unique look not often seen in this type of photography. I tend to like a 35/1.4 lens quite a lot - this fits the smaller fireworks we are using well, and the smaller garden size. You should definitely experiment with some focal lengths here. 20-50mm will work well for starters. I have shot fireworks will all types of lenses, including a display I could see from the home balcony, over one mile away with a 200mm lens. The settings for this type of photography are different to what we previously discussed:

• ISO 400-800 (or dual gain point)

• Wide Apertures f/1.4-f/2

• Hand holdable shutter speeds - 1/20 and faster (lens dependent, IBIS can potentially work also)

• Auto focus single point mode

• White balance 3500K to daylight (lock it in to keep consistency later)

• RAW exposure mode

• Obviously no exposure delay mode setting

You can see from the picture above, that it is quite unique to be able to capture the actual rocket itself as it flies upwards into the night sky. I don’t see many doing this. This was shot with a Nikon D810 at ISO 400, f/1.4 and 1/200. I shot at this faster shutter speed, in order to freeze the motion of the rocket better than a slower speed would have done. Using large aperture lenses such as these allows us to add in a beautiful depth of field and fall off into the background which in my opinion, further adds to the shot overall. I love the little sparks that are evident around this picture, and the phenomenally beautiful glow from the flashes of light diffused through the smoke. It really produces a very different type of picture to the normal firework shots we are used to seeing over and over.

Processing Firework Pictures

No different to normal night photography in a sense - we want to try and balance the darks and shadows along with the lights and move our RAW exposure to a finished, pleasing and balanced result when editing. I have stated that shooting RAW is very important so that we have the greatest malleability in post processing. If we have shot our pictures successfully for this at the scene, we will already be well on our way to making editing easier. It is prudent to note that when we first view our pictures in our RAW convertor of choice (I suggest Lightroom), they will not look as polished and ready to go as the shots I have shown here. These all needed shadow lifting and highlight taming. However, it is precisely because I have shot with the settings I have recommended here that I am able to recover these elements to create a balance of the light in the scene. This can be difficult to do and takes practice. Stick with it, and find out what works for you. Lightroom has a fantastic range of exposure correction tools I suggest using - sky masks, land masks, radial gradients, brushes. Look for a balance between both extremes of light. Try not the block up the black or white areas, however remember that it is night - be careful of turning the scene into daylight! This is ultimately the tricky thing about firework photography and like anything, takes time and experience to nail it and your own personal style to develop.

Safety

It is important to note that you should never put yourself at risk of injury to photograph anything. I am a big proponent of this in all forms of photography - no picture is worth your life. Be careful, and assess the situation. The above shot makes it looks like my son is very close to the firework but it is just perspective, fooling that sense of closeness. Do not get close to fireworks, do not revisit fireworks that have not ignited. Wear gloves, keep warm. Stay safe at all times. Happy shooting!