Photographing Firework Tips from Emma Lord Photography

Fireworks can seem like hard-work to photograph, but with the right camera settings, equipment and determination, you'll get fantastic results.

Bonfire Night and New Year on the horizon and the sky will soon be lit up with fireworks night after night. But when it comes to photographing fireworks...what's the best way to go about it without ending up ditching the camera in frustration and being left with images of pitch black skies or blurry specks of light?

Here, Emma from Emma Lord Photography spills her secrets behind capturing the perfect firework shot....

Depending on what sort of camera you use to photograph fireworks, you will have more or less control of your settings. These tips are for DSLR cameras, although there are mobile telephone apps which offer the same functions.

There will be an element of trial and error in capturing the best results. Make sure the flash is turned off, use manual shooting mode and a tripod. A remote release is helpful if you have one, and a spare battery.

Keep the ISO low, at 100-200, to avoid introducing too much noise into the shots. Aperture should be fairly narrow, around f/11. The shutter speed is the variable element; start at around ½ second and see how the pictures look. If the images are too dark, slow the shutter down while keeping the other settings the same.

Don’t use auto focus for fireworks. Switch to manual focus, and try to find something a similar distance away to the fireworks to focus on (a building or streetlight for example).

For more ideas on photographing at firework displays, you can read Emma's New Year post for 2018 here.