Firework Photography: the Diary of an Amateur

My hubby gifted me my first DSLR on my last Birthday. Since then I left my Diary and started writing down my memories with my DSLR. It is such a wonderful experience.

Before starting anything i would like to thank the person who invented digital camera and to the person(Hubby) who paid for my camera.

I learned lots of tricks by reading loads of amazing blogs and practically doing it. Fireworks which i haven't tried. We planned our vacation to Vegas for 4th july celebration. I thought it will be great opportunity to capture fireworks. So, I started researching on fireworks photography. Read a lot, forget a lot then read again and got confused .....Aaaarg. Then i start making little notes . Like cheat sheets.In this instructables I am writing all what I learn and experience.

Things u need to carry for this :

1: Camera DSLR with 55/50 mm lens

2: Tripod: Its required as we have to shoot in slow shutter speed and even slightest shake can blur picture.

3: Extra Battery: Must have extra count as slow shutter drains your battery faster. This accident happened with me . I was on my first few firework picture and my battery drained as i was using camera for whole day on my trip.

4: Remote key: It is crucial as if you click camera with hand then its going to produce a little blurriness in picture. If you don't have remote key then u can use timer feature.

5: Cheat Sheet (If you keep forgetting things as I do) Believe it or not I really had this with important notes on it but i forgot to check in chaos. It was crowded and to avoid crowd i was standing in the bush surrounded with little palm trees. It was funny actually.

Step 1: How Does It Work

Pack your bag and leave early to find a suitable place to set your camera. On the Vegas strip Ceaser's place was firework center. However I was not aware which building will exactly host the show as it is a big casino so I selected a view where every part of ceaser's place was is clearly visible. I tried to avoid traffic light poles . foot flow was amazing and people were continuously bumping on tripod. So, to avoid traffic i climbed up on slightly raised pavement where lots of palm tree was planted. I set my tripod and fix my camera on tripod. Checked level of tripod.

Switch on your camera.

1. Turn it into manual mode.I have tried some on manual mode and some on P mode( program mode)

2. Flash: Disable Flash as firework is too far to reach and also bright enough to create its own beauty.

3. ISO: Set your ISO to low as low as 100/200/400/800. This u need to check in first few firework pic what ISO is suitable. Frequency of firework is not same. Sometime a few firework are popping and some time many which emits light accordingly. So u need to set ISO according to medium amount of firework as chances are good to capture amazing pics in this. Also it depends upon are you standing in a bright surrounding or area where darkness prevail. I was on strip and it was very bright also firework reflection on buildings making it more bright. so mine work sometime with 200 and sometime with 400.

4. Focus Point: You need to wait till firework start to get a focus point. As camera will not have any light source in the sky to focus . As soon as firework start focus your camera.

5. Aperture: I clicked most of the pic in 5.6 aperture . Also experimented with 8 to 12 as read in other blogs.

6. Shutter speed: Earlier i set speed for 10 seconds. Then i calculated in my mind how much time a firework is taking to completely run his life. It was approx 4-6 seconds. So, i set speed of 7 seconds for one picture.

7. Remote Key: If shooting in long exposure remote key is must. If you do not have a remote key then set your camera on timer.

Take plenty of pics, among them you may find a few very nice shots. Do not forget to review after pics unless you are completely satisfied with settings. Try to capture pics in first 5-10 minutes as after this you may see lots of smoke in sky which doesn't look as good as starting.

Also don't forget to enjoy fireworks.

Step 2: Some of My Pics

Its all unedited pics. You can see its not perfect but I am very happy on my first try. I hope you like this instructables. Do let me know what you think about it and if there is any suggestion to improve this.