Tips for Taking Pictures of Fireworks

Want to shoot the best fireworks pictures this Fourth of July? Here are a few pro tips from photographer Kevin Monko, who's an old hand at these (and many other) things. 

1. Stabilize your camera. 

"If you don’t have a tripod, you’ve got to have it sitting on something that’s steady or stable," Monko said; "a fence rail, or the roof of your car, or those gorilla pods."

Just the act of touching your camera can move it enough to blur the image a little bit, Monko said, especially for folks shooting with a phone camera. A tripod will help keep things still and sharpen up those images.

2. Set the scene.

The fireworks are themselves exciting, but by adding a little context, you can improve the impact of your photo, Monko said. Get there early and think about how you might frame your shots.

"Depending on the fireworks and where something else is in the picture, you might want to focus on something else," he said. "Sometimes it’s nice to see the context." 

3. Check the wind. 

An important first step when establishing your shot is to figure out which way the prevailing wind is blowing, Monko said.

"The smoke goes behind the fireworks," he said. "After a few blasts, if the smoke’s blowing towards you, then they get real hazy. 

"They’re going to be sharper at the beginning [of the show] because there’s less smoke in the sky."

4. Hey, fireworks are bright.

Fireworks are brighter than you think they are, Monko said, which means that a high ISO and a big aperture aren't always necessary to capture the image.

"They really are much brighter than you anticipate," he said. "You don’t want to do a fast aperture because you want some of that trail in there."

Monko recommends using an ISO setting of 100 or 200 with an f-stop of 8; check out some other pairings here.

5. Long exposure, black paper.

One trick that Monko recommends is setting your camera's shutter speed for 30-second bursts and covering the lens with a black card in between explosions.

"You push the button, there’s a firework, you pull it away, and then you cover it back up again," he said. 

"You can leave it covered up until the 30 seconds runs out, or you can try to get another blast in there in the same frame."

6. Film vs. digital

Sometimes it's best to consider shooting on film instead of digitally, Monko said, because "some of those colors, those reds and blues can get super-saturated in digital."

For more from Kevin Monko, check out his work here.

Want more tips on shooting fireworks with your phone camera? Here are some.