To get the best results, you need to set the focus
mode to manual (either on the camera body or on
the lens depending on your camera) so that the
camera doesn’t try to refocus every shot. Take
Figure 7-24: if set to autofocus, the focus point
could easily have switched between the explo-
sions in the air and the smaller flares being fired
off the pier.If your camera does not have a bulb mode, then
you can set the exposure for 20 seconds and use a
piece of black paper or even a piece of matte
black poster board (which is easier to use one-
handed and stays rigid) to cover the front of the
lens between explosions. The downside to this
method is that you can’t actually time the start
and finish of the explosions because you are lim-
ited to the shutter speed of the camera. By using
the bulb mode in Figure 7-23, I could start the
exposure when the rockets fired and stop the
exposure after they burst, so I kept the shutter
open for 3.8 seconds, not a setting that exists on
the camera.
If you are finding that the fireworks are very
bright or there are a lot of multiple bursts of
color, then you can always adjust the aperture to
f/16 and still be able to use longer shutter speeds
to get all the light trails in the image. The com-
panies that run fireworks shows all try to end with
a massive display of their craft. In practical terms,
the end of the fireworks show is going to be
brighter than the start. And because that usually
means that they have to get a lot of launch tubes
ready to fire in quick succession, there is a lull
before the finale. If you watch for this, you can
decrease the aperture and still use long shutter
speeds to catch the multiple fireworks used for
the finale.
Why manual focus is the way to go
The autofocus capabilities of today’s cameras are
really very good. In fact, they are so good that in
certain circumstances it can be a problem.
Photographing fireworks is a great example of
where manual focus is a much better choice.
ABOUT THIS PHOTO The fireworks’ reflection in the water
turned everything blue. Taken at 3.8 seconds, f/16, and ISO 400.7-23