As a Freelance Photographer in Vancouver I always find a lot of places and events to shoot. One is the Celebration of Light. This year I challenged myself to take my fireworks photography to a whole new level, and this is something I’d like to see more amateurs and professionals go through as well. I notice that with a lot of photos, one thing they lack is feeling, or meaning. To me, taking a photo is all about capturing a moment and telling a story to others. Here’s the story behind my photos.
A month ago before the 2010 Celebration of Light started, I was going through photos of previous fireworks shows and I found what really amazed me were the vibrant colours. As I was flipping through photos, it was one thing to see an amazing design or volley, but another to see the sun setting against the background, which I felt gave the photo a beautiful touch. Usually we relate fireworks against a pitch black canvas; black canvases are nice sometimes, but art has no boundaries. So after nourishing my muse, I went out on a journey to find the perfect spot to take photos.
After having shot fireworks for several of the performances, here are some tips I offer for taking amazing fireworks photos:
- Composition is everything. Instead of taking the easy approach and shooting against the sky, find a nice background canvas and paint with all the colors and light available.
- Always use a tripod (You are taking long exposures and your images will be blurry if you don’t use a one. If you don’t have one find a flat surface for your camera)
- Invest in a cable release or a wireless remote (This will add towards keeping your camera from shaking when you press the shutter. Again if you don’t have any of those options use a self timer mode.)
- Use the lowest ISO (You will be taking long exposures and you don’t want to be overexposed)
- Experiment with your aperture. Since your taking long exposure you don’t need a lot of light to come in.
- Experiment shooting with Bulb mode. Cover your Lens with a black card, when a sudden burst occurs uncover your lens to capture it.
- Pre-Focus if possible that way you can your picture can look its sharpest
- This may be obvious, but shoot in RAW
- On the day of the shoot I like to go to check the weather forecast to determine the wind direction. You want to shoot up wind otherwise they’ll come out really hazy.
Here’s are some of my favorite photos from this year’s shows:
