The Digital Photography Book

Shooting Fireworks

This is another one that throws a lot of people (one of my best friends, who didn’t get a single crisp fireworks shot on the Fourth of July, made me include this tip just for him and the thousands of other digital shooters that share his pain). For starters, you’ll need to shoot fireworks with your camera on a tripod because you’re going to need a slow enough shutter speed to capture the falling light trails, which is what you’re really after. Also, this is where using a remote shutter release really pays off because you’ll need to see the rocket’s trajectory to know when to push the shutter button—if you’re looking in the viewfinder ...