Fireworks
Most people get to see fireworks only a couple of times each year, and this also means that most people only get the opportunity to photograph them a couple of times a year!
Now, I have had a couple of goes at this now, and after getting nearly everything wrong the first time, the firworks on New Years eve were pretty easy!
I was in Auckland on New Years and they set off fireworks from the skytower in the middle of the city. So, knowing where, we found ourselves a good vantage point the day before.
Now what you need to do to shoot fireworks is be prepared and know how to set up your camera so you can get the best shots.
- set your camera to manual exposure
- set ISO to 100
- set Aperture to f8
- set shutter to 4 seconds
- set focus to manual
- use a tripod or beanbag
- use a remote release (if possible)
- set anti-shock to 2 or 3 seconds
The settings assume you have a DSLR camera, if you are using a point and shoot camera you probably don't have f8, so just use the largest number you have.
Now you have the camera set up, you need to guess a couple of things as well - like where the fireworks will actually be going off. You need to make a few guesses as to what the appropriate lens might be and what you want from your final picture. This year, we were approx 4km from where the fireworks were on a hill with an excellent vantage of the location. I chose to take pictures of the whole scene and not just the fireworks.
You can see that the fireworks are only part of the picture, and give quite a dramatic focal point to the overall night-scene.
I used all of the settings that I recommended above to take this picture.
