I’ve sort of mastered taking photos of Christmas lights at night, both indoor and outdoor. Yet, I’ve never captured a decent image of fireworks—a fact that I’m reminded of every July 4th and New Year’s eve. For me, the issue has always been holiday lights are typically motionless—I can work with that. Fireworks, on the other hand, are moving at hyper-speed at first, then pausing, finally moving slow and fading away.
I’ll try again this year taking some advice from the pros at Leica.
On the Leica Camera Blog, it’s noted that, “Taking pictures of fireworks can be a fun experience that proves quite the technical challenge for many photographers. Beginners may struggle with photographing such a brief and bright subject streaking across a dark summer sky, and advanced users may need to optimize their manual camera controls while also keeping in mind things like location and composition to get the pictures they seek. At any skill level, there are ways to try fireworks photography with automated settings or fine-tunable manual controls to get a shot that encapsulates the awe and wonder of this explosively colorful light.”
Their blog post covers:
Core tenants and general tips that always go with taking pictures of fireworks.
Basic-level guidance.
Specifics for intermediate to advanced photographers.
And, how to get creative and “break the rules.”
Check it out: https://www.leica-camera.blog/2021/06/29/burst-bloom/
If you have tips for shooting great photos of fireworks, send them my way and I’ll share them. If you get some great shots this year, feel free to share!
