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Tips for Fireworks Photography

Bob Burch

From time to time I receive emails asking me for technical information on how I create my fireworks photos. My colleague Paul Marriott also receives these enquiries and after discussing with him the problems associated with trying to answer each and every one of them, we hit upon the idea of posting a Tip Sheet on his website for any and all to read and use.

Choice of Film

For some reason, many people assume that you need a high-speed emulsion such as a 400 ASA film in order to photograph fireworks. In fact, just the opposite is true. It is the "slow" emulsions that provide the best results. My personal preference is Fujichrome Velvia 50 slide film, which seems to yield the best colors throughout the whole spectrum. If anything, colors are rendered just a bit on the "warm" side. Kokachrome 64 is another "slow" color slide film that can't be beat for sharpness, but it seems to have a bit less latitude in its ability to "catch" all the colors. Agfa CT-50 is a third choice and also yields good colors, but it leans a bit toward the "cool" side - making it a better choice for blues and violets. One can also use 100 ASA films, including most of the Fuji color slide varieties, the Kodak slide films in this range, and other brands too.

Some people prefer to shoot negative film such as Fujicolor or Kodacolor. The advantage of negative film is that it is far more "forgiving" than slide film. Negative film has a "latitude" of plus or minus two stops, meaning your exposure can be off by a wide margin and the negative will still yield a printable result. Slide films, on the other hand, are far less forgiving, with a latitude of only plus or minus a ½ stop, meaning that your exposure must be "right on". However, the range of available slide films provides a much wider variety of choices - and in general, slide films reproduce colors much better than negative films.

My preferences therefore are:

However, you should feel free to experiment with different films to see what you like best. But stay with emulsion speeds of 50ASA or 100ASA for the best results.

Choice of Camera

Digital vs Film: In our new age of "digital everything" some people want to use a Digital camera for everything they photograph. There is no problem with this except for the choice of camera. Most of the lower priced models have automatic diaphragms and auto-exposure features that you cannot override. These cameras will not yield good results since you cannot control the aperture of the lens nor the amount of the exposure time.

To use a digital camera, you will need one that has "manual mode" settings that include the ability to manually set the aperture and the shutter speed.

Required Equipment

Whether you are using a traditional camera or a digital one, you will need a tripod and a cable release. The tripod is necessary for stability so that the trailing lines and curves of the illuminated stars, etc. will leave pleasing curves and trails on the film. If you try to hand-hold the camera, these lines will become wiggly and erratic. The cable release enables you to trip the shutter without physically touching the camera. Even the slightest vibration will impart "wiggles" to the trailing colors on the film.

Exposure

The subject of exposure entails two separate elements - the aperture setting (the opening in the lens that determines how much light enters the lens and falls on the film plane) and the time of the exposure (which can vary greatly with fireworks). We will first limit our discussion to aperture settings since the length of time for the exposure depends on several things.

As a rule, if you are using 50 ASA film, the majority of your exposures will fall into the range of f9.5 to f16. An important thing to remember with f-stops is that the higher the number of the f-stop, the less light is getting through. Each f-stop effectively doubles or halves the amount of light reaching the film. Thus, going from f8 to f11, you are allowing half the light to enter the lens and reach the film. And going from f11 to f8, you are doubling the amount of light entering the lens and reaching the film. Many lenses on 35 mm and medium format cameras also have half-stop settings between the main stops. These are useful for subtle adjustments of exposure. I use f9.5 (halfway between f8 and f11) as the starting point for any show. The wide range of shells that includes most standard colors - large flowers, trailing comets, etc. and multi-break shells that feature color changes - will probably fall into this 9.5 aperture setting.

Candles tend to be a bit brighter, so you will want to reduce the light entering the lens by a bit. For candles, you should use f11 or f 12.5 (halfway between f11 and f16) and even f16 at times. If the show features a lot of candles, you can make several exposures, trying each of the settings mentioned above. That way, at least one of them will be correct.

Magnesium and titanium shells are extremely bright and will require exposures at f16 and even f22 (if your lens has a setting that high). This also holds true for strobing shells that will result in trails that look like "silvery rain".

Some colors are very faint such as many of the blues and violets that are used in today's fireworks and carbon-based shells such as willows. These will require exposures of f8 and even lower at f5.6 to allow even more light to enter the lens. Here is a table for quick reference, depending on whether you are using 50 or 100 ASA film.

Type of Fireworks 50 ASA 100 ASA
Most 3,4,5,6,8,10,12 inch standard color shells.
Standard colors of red, green, blue, white, yellow		 f9.5 – f11 f12.5 – f16
Fountains and Gerbs - Exploding mines f8 – f9.5 f11 – f12.5
Titanium and Magnesium Shells (including strobes) f16 – f22 f22
Candles - bright mines and nautiques f11 – f16 f12.9 – f22
Soft blues and charcoal-based shells (willows) f5.6 – f8 f6.3 – f9.5
Pattern shells (hearts, stars, orbits, etc) f6.3 – f8 F8 – f11


"Painting with Light"

Whether you are a professional photographer, a serious amateur or a novice, FORGET EVERYTHING you know about the length of time for your exposures. Your shutter speed for taking photos of fireworks will ALWAYS be "Bulb" - usually marked with a "B" symbol on the shutter speed selection dial. Bulb means that once you depress the cable release, the lens and shutter will stay open until you release the plunger - which then closes the shutter. So set your shutter to Bulb and leave it there for everything. The ONLY adjustment you will make to your camera throughout the entire process of creating fireworks photos will be the aperture settings on the lens. (and perhaps changes to the focal length if you are using a zoom lens)

Think of yourself as an artist who is about to "paint" colors onto a pitch-black background. That piece of film that is now being exposed to a black night sky is about to become your canvas. You need not be concerned with things such as a ½ second exposure or a 1 second exposure since each trail left by a star or other element of a fireworks shell becomes a streak of light on your film canvas. Each of these streaks or trails is painting itself upon a black background and as such they can overlap without affecting exposure.

The length of time to use for your exposure will vary with each fireworks situation you encounter. Esthetically, a nice high 10 or 12 inch shell with a comet trail will produce a pleasing photo if you shoot just one single shell. The end result will probably resemble a palm tree effect. Even several such shells together will probably make a nice photo. You are literally painting the shell onto the black background that the film is also recording while the shutter is open.

Timing is everything. You will probably hear the mortar fire, which is your cue to be ready to open the shutter and catch the comet trail - keeping the shutter open until the shell explodes, and still keeping it open as the stars slowly fall downward and paint in the trails. As the shell dies out, you close the shutter.

Congratulations - you have just created your first Fireworks Masterpiece!

Composition

There is always the question of "horizontal vs. vertical" when taking photos of fireworks. Personally I shoot just about everything as a vertical. My exceptions are for "ground-based" displays, especially when they are fired near water - as is the case at the Montreal International Competition held each year. The lower displays, especially those with many arcing candles and mines just naturally lend themselves to a horizontal format, while the higher shells tend to be better framed in a vertical format.

Choice of Lens

You will note that I have said nothing up to now on what lens to use. This really depends on just how far away you are from the action. Personally I use a short zoom with a range from 28mm to 135mm focal length. If you are very far from the fireworks staging point, perhaps even a 200mm lens will be appropriate. One thing you do want to avoid is constantly fiddling with your lens to change the focal length, since you lose valuable time and "some of the good ones will get away". If you are shooting fireworks at a venue that you visit each year (let's say, your local 4th of July display in your home town) you will know just how close you can get to the firing point. A little experience will enable you to know which lens you should use. For events that you are visiting for the first time, consider taking several lenses or a zoom with a wide range so that you are covered for any situation.

Personally I like to zoom in on the heart of a shell and I am not concerned with getting all the edges of the shell in the photo. Some people call my style "In Your Face" fireworks. One reason I use this style of composition is to be able to sell my shots as "Stock Photography". Most people who are looking for fireworks photos for use in advertising or other applications are seeking "generic" shots that could be from anywhere. But it is also a challenge to integrate some famous landmark into your photos so that you incorporate not only the spectacle of the fireworks, but also the place where the display is being held - such as the Washington Monument in Washington DC or the Statue of Liberty in New York. But if you intend to sell these photos as "stock", they have more limited applications and thus fewer potential buyers. I mention all this merely to explain my own particular style.

The vantage point

Deciding just where to take your photos from is likely to be determined by a number of factors. You may in fact, have only limited viewpoints and be forced to set up at one of these areas. Remember to take into account a few factors. Bridges and some boardwalks, etc. are not necessarily the best places to set up a tripod since people walking around will always create vibrations. For example, on the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal that overlooks the fireworks venue, there is only ONE place where there is no vibration - and that is the spot adjacent to the concrete pylon tower on the south side of the bridge - a spot that only one or two photographers can fit into and use. Also try to consider a point where no one will be able to get in front of you, such as a promenade with a railing. Remember this: no matter how early you arrive and get set up, people are basically rude when it comes to fireworks. Latecomers will always push and shove and attempt to get the best vantage point. They will have no concern about your tripod and will kick it and knock it about without any regard to how long you have been patiently waiting before they ever arrived. So select your vantage point carefully! Where possible, try to contact a PR person for the event to see if there are any areas set aside for Media/Press people and photographers. You might be able to wrangle a pass out of them and make your experience much more pleasant.

The Imaginary Canvas

Even once you've selected a good spot to shoot from, you know what kind of lens you will use, and you're all set to go - you still need to do a little more planning that requires some imagination. From experience you may already know within what field of view the display will likely take place. This also helps determine your choice of lens. It's best to let a display begin and actually look through your camera to see where the shells are going and whether you have enough framing to catch most of what is going on. Once you have done this, you can then lock down the angles on your tripod and already know what your camera will be "seeing" when you open and close the shutter for each composition. Remember - when you are taking photos of fireworks, you will not be looking through the lens. On SLR cameras, the mirror locks upwards during the exposure so you will see nothing through the viewfinder. The mirror stays in this position until you release the cable release and complete the exposure by closing the shutter again. Therefore you need to preconceive and pre-frame your shots since you can't see what the camera is seeing.

This ability and talent to visualize what is ultimately going to appear on the film is also of paramount importance to what you decide to "paint" on each piece of film canvas that you are creating. YOU are the artist and even though two photographers may be standing side by side, their photographs of the same thing will likely be very different. This is where your sense of timing and composition will come into play. Remember that you are an artist who is splashing brush strokes of light onto a black canvas background. You want enough material on the film to "fill in the black space" you pre-visualized, but you also don't want to "clutter" up the canvas with too much stuff. This will only come with practice, but even on your first venture into creating fireworks photos, you will probably get great results.

I find that anywhere between 1 or 2 and even up to 5 or 6 shells can nicely fill up a frame. I rarely shoot longer than that. Of course if 5 or 6 shells all go up and break within 4 seconds, the exposure time will be 4 or 5 seconds - but if 5 or 6 shells go up at intervals that span 12 or 15 seconds, then the exposure time will be 12 or 15 seconds. This is why I told you to forget everything you know about the length of the exposure time. In the example above, the results will be virtually the same, because the number of shells is the same. Only the interval has changed, because the interval is determined by the people firing the show.

During the finale of any display, there are often many shells being fired simultaneously. When a situation like this reaches a "saturation" point, I just don't shoot any more, since the result will be way too cluttered and pointless. Besides, it's more fun to just relax and watch a finale in all its splendor and glory!

Additional Notes

Just a few other items you might want to consider that really don't fit into any other category.

There is a strong temptation to "shoot everything" when you are photographing fireworks. However, in my experience, "white" shells tend to become boring rather quickly. This is also true of multiple salutes and salute barrages. They wind up just looking like splotches of white light on film and have no esthetic value. And in displays where one color is fired again and again, such as a whole volley of red shells one after another, the same holds true. You might want to make 2 or 3 shots, using a slightly different aperture setting each time, to ensure you have one really good exposure. I tend to be most active when I see lots of colors being mixed together.

Pattern Shells

I have noticed that most pattern shells (exploding hearts, starfish, Saturn orbits, etc,) tend to be a little less bright. Use f8 for 50 ASA and f11 for 100 ASA. Don't expect pattern shells to look anything like the patterns you actually saw. On film, while the effect is pleasing, they become very abstract.

Wind and Weather

Ideally you will have a jet black sky with perhaps a 5 to 10 knot wind that will carry the smoke away. Personally I don't like having a moon in my shots since it always ends up looking like a mistake of some splotch of white light that doesn't belong. The moon rarely ends up looking like a moon in fireworks photos. Hopefully the wind is blowing laterally left or right - or away from you. If the wind is blowing towards you and is brisk, you will get "smoked" and run the danger of high-falling shell remnants raining down upon you (and sometimes including flaming remnants). Always remember "Safety First" at a fireworks event and make sure you have something to protect your eyes - even reading glasses will do - if you encounter these conditions. At the opposite end of the spectrum, "no wind at all" will spell disaster for your photos. The smoke builds up and builds up, effectively blotting out new shells and looking terrible on film. If you encounter conditions like these, relax and watch the show and don't bother wasting film.

How much Film?

I find that during particularly active displays, I tend to shoot one roll of 36 (35mm film) about every 10 minutes. This varies, depending on how many white shells are being fired and whether or not I like the overall theme of the moment. When processing slide film at a lab, I find it best to use a custom professional lab versus a drugstore or standard camera store lab. Always insist that the roll be "Process Only - Do Not Cut". This is because technicians often make mistakes and cut your roll on the wrong sprocket hole, meaning they will ruin every single shot if they are using an automated slide-mounting machine. When you get film back that is uncut and not mounted, it comes as one long continuous roll about 4 feet in length. Using cotton gloves and slide mounts that you can purchase at a camera store, you can then cut and mount the slides yourself and make sure you are cutting them on the correct sprocket. In 35mm film, it's 8 sprocket holes to a frame, so you can find the line between frames by counting sprockets. And now if you mess it up, you can't blame the lab!

Water and Reflections

By all means, if you have a vantage point for a show that includes a water foreground, experiment a bit and try to catch some of the reflections of the shells in the water. The wiggly lines will vary in width depending on how much wind is blowing and disturbing the surface of the water.

Small Flashlight

Remember to take a small flashlight with you as part of your standard camera gear for fireworks photography. It's especially useful for sneaking a quick peek at where your aperture is set to, finding things you drop (such as lens caps, etc.) and for changing rolls of film.

Conclusion

Well that's about all I can think of at the moment. If and when I think of any other little details that might be useful, I will send them along to Paul Marriott to add to this page.

So for all you budding Rembrandts out there, try my techniques and I guarantee you will have good results. I would also encourage you all to write to Paul using one of his message boards to report your successes (or failures) and to make suggestions of your own. Happy Shooting!

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