Fireworks 101: How to shoot em'

Our office is near Victorian Square in Sparks, NV and each Fourth of July they shoot fireworks off the top of the Nugget hotel and casino.  We have a great view of the festivities from the front yard of our office and each year I take the family and we head down there to set up on the grass.  Sometimes we invite friends, fix ice cream sundaes, and make a party of it.  I, of course, take my camera and shoot pictures.

Shooting fireworks can be a little tricky so I thought I'd let you in on a few secrets.  (I know... this would be a great blog to write leading up to the Fourth... maybe I'll re-post it then).  I took this picture last Fourth of July while sitting in my lawn chair.  Here's the trick.

For this type of shot you want to use a zoom lens so you can get in nice and close to the fireworks without setting your hair on fire.  I used my 70-200mm.  Set your aperture to f/11 so everything is nice and focused.  I controlled the shutter myself by setting my camera to bulb mode.  I simply pressed down as the rockets burst and released the shutter as the trails started to fade.  Don't have bulb mode on your camera?  No problem.  Just set your shutter speed to 4 seconds.  See how the picture looks and tweak your shutter speed as needed.

Camera specs in a nutshell; Canon 1D Mark III with 70-200mm IS lens at 85mm, f/11 in Bulb Mode, ISO 400

With a little practice you'll nail it!

Ryan