I’m happy to say that I’m quite satisfied with how several of my shots came out, largely thanks to a little prior preparation and encouragement by my SO to actually put a little more thought into what I was going to do shooting-wise.

While I’m not by any means a pro, over the course of our fireworks expedition I did develop some opinions on how best to go about the process. Here are some of my takes and suggestions in case you’re planning a fireworks photography expedition of your own.

Gear

Is it possible to take photos of fireworks with an iPhone? Absolutely. Would they be comparable to shots taken with a DSLR? Depends on what kind of shots you want but your DSLR is definitely going to give you more creative freedom.

The tips written here are targeted for fellow DSLR users. My baby is my Canon Rebel T6, which happens to be my first (and only) camera. I don’t have much in the way of lens recommendations as I only personally own 2 (almost 3 since I steal my boyfriend’s lens at times). If anything, the one thing I wished when I was taking my photos on this occasion was that I had a wider angle lens (better for taking all-encompassing landscape shots). Unfortunately, I don’t have the spare $1,000 as of yet. I can dream.

Besides your camera and lens (or lenses), you’re going to want to bring a tripod. Did I lug a tripod up a mountain? Yes, yes I did. Was it bulky and, at times, precariously annoying? Yes, yes it was. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

Don’t forget the tripod. Without it, trying to take some long exposures of the fireworks is going to be a pain. If you don’t have one or there’s no way in the world you’ll be able to bring one, you’ll have to find something to hold your camera to take the shots so as to avoid shakiness which could blur the image.

With just the camera (don’t forget to charge your battery prior and make sure you’ve got your SD card) and tripod you can take fireworks photos just fine. If you want to take it a step further to avoid shakiness in your image, consider bringing a remote release option as well. This would be especially helpful if you intend to shoot in bulb mode, which I did not because I completely skimmed over all of the articles I read and neglected to notice advice given to shoot in bulb mode. Oh well.

Location & Vision

These are important considerations which I almost completely neglected altogether. Had my boyfriend not insisted on getting things set up an hour or so before the actual fireworks, I very well could have been scrambling at the last minute, running around on the mountain summit with a tripod frantically trying to understand where it was best to shoot from. You don’t want to do that.

Why don’t you want to do that? There’s a few reasons which include but are not limited to:

1. You’ll want to try to get many of your shots early on as later in the game smoke from the explosions can obscure your images.
2. You can experiment with your settings and framing to determine what kinds of shots you want and what settings you’re leaning toward.
3. General peace of mind. It can be stressful to scramble at the last minute!
4. You’ll have some time to actually sit back and enjoy outside of photographing what’s happening. Don’t forget to enjoy the moment.

There’s a good chance that where you’re shooting from is going to greatly influence your vision. Do you want close-up shots of singular fireworks going off or multiple blasts in a single shot? Do you want landscape in the background or total darkness? Do you want to focus on one area or have the flexibility to swing your camera around and shoot what’s happening behind you? You’ll want to take all of this into account as you choose which lens you want to use, where you want to set up your tripod, and what settings you want to start in, plus what settings you may want to transition to.

I took a lot of test shots of the city prior to midnight, playing around with my ISO and shutter speed settings in particular and noting the changes. During the show itself, I continued to tweak and play around with the settings. It’s fun to experiment! Don’t be afraid to do so and see what different kinds of effects you can get.

Settings

I remember when I first got my DSLR. I was completely and utterly lost. Prior to purchasing my own, I was afraid to hold someone else’s. Now, here I was with this piece of equipment. I didn’t even know how to change the lens. At least I could turn it on. That was relatively simple.

I was fortunate to have an early teacher, my good friend Olivia, who happens to be a pro and taught me the basics when we went on our epic cross-country road trip. One of the first things she told me was that I had to learn to shoot in manual. That not learning how to shoot in manual was completely and utterly unacceptable.

I’m here now to tell you that she’s right and, to shoot these fireworks shots, you’re going to have to use manual as well. Maybe you’re already a boss at using manual in which case, good for you. If you’re not, don’t fear. You can see this as an exciting foray into what your camera is capable of.

This said, there are 3 settings I focused on for my fireworks shots: ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Here are some tips for each.

ISO

All of the articles I read prior to the shoot recommended a lower ISO of around 200. This is what I settled with, after experimenting with a number of configurations and I’m happy with how my images turned out. Having my ISO set at 200 worked both for shots taken from a distance as well as closer up. 

I considered bumping up my ISO yet feared a couple of potential outcomes which were 1) pixelation of the image and 2) losing the fireworks amongst the city lights.