How to Photograph Fireworks with Awesome Examples

With New Year 2013  just days away, I decided to put up an article on some simple tips on how to capture beautiful fireworks photographs using your DSLR's  this upcoming New Year's Eve.  A lot of skies all around the world will be lighten up with these very colorful and stunning fireworks displays which most of us wants watch and capture in our cameras. Here are some simple and easy tips you can learn to capture some beautiful fireworks photographs.

Fireworks Photography Camera Settings

In shooting Fireworks Display, I recommend shooting in Manual Mode since you are going to change several settings(ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture) which you can only do in this mode. You can get best results when shooting in manual exposure and manual focus modes.

• Set your Aperture between f8 - f16 to have larger depth of field.


• Set your Shutter Speed to ‘BULB’ mode. This is a mode that allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you hold down the shutter button.Fireworks move and the best way in capturing this movement like shooting light trails is using long exposure.


• Set your ISO to 100. I recommend shooting at a low ISO to ensure the cleanest shots possible.


• Switch your flash OFF. Shooting with a flash has no effect since your camera’s flash will only have a reach of a few meter.


• USE TRIPOD . Since you are shooting with longer shutter, you must ensure that your camera doesn't move during the taking of your shots. No matter how steady your hand is, it's not steady enough.

Fireworks Photography Tip Composition Tips

This is the very crucial and difficult part on capturing stunning Fireworks photographs. Aiming where to frame your shot is one of the challenges you will going to face, Anticipation is the KEY. One way in overcoming this challenge is taking some test shots before the fireworks display and look for the best angle and framing on your location. After finding the best one, mount your camera in the tripod and face it to that angle.

Think about what is in the foreground and background of your shots and make sure you won’t have people’s heads ruining your shots. Keeping horizons straight. This is very important if you’re going to shoot with a wide focal length and will get other background elements in your shot.

Some Amazing Fireworks Photographs

Note: I do not own these images. All the photographs are linked back to their respective owners.

Read More

Free Photography Tips: Action Photography

In general, the term action photography refers to shooting at sports events. It is really undeniable that capturing participants in sporting events is challenging, but action photography requires more than that. Any situation where people or objects are in motion(e.g spending time with a child, traveling with a car or train) is a potential exploit for this technique. In the next lines you will be presented with some useful tips that will help you improve your action photography skills.

 *** Note: I do not own these images. All the photographs are linked back to their respective owners. ***

Action Photography Tip #1: Exposure time

The action can be immortalized in the photo in two ways: the first version implies a lower shutter speed and the second is represented by a time of exposure that creates a blur effect and a feeling of movement. Moving the camera in the desired direction is relatively easy if you want to "freeze" the moving object, which can be captured even with lower values of exposure time, generally between 1/250 sec and 1/500 sec. In the event that the subject is moving at an angle of 45 degrees from the camera, freezing it at the above mentioned values is more difficult.

Thus, to be sure that the picture is successful, it is recommended to choose a value between 1/500 sec and 1/1000 sec. But the worst situation is when the subject is located at an angle of 90 degrees from the camera. In these conditions exposure should be reduced to values close to 1/1000 sec most of the times and if you are shooting subjects moving at high speed, such as cars, motorcycle, running athletes and even wakeboarding, you are required to choose values of approximately 1/2000 sec.

Action Photography Tip #2: Synchronization

One of the most important aspects in action photography is synchronization, which is anticipating the right moment for the photo. If the start was made too early, the camera will not capture anything spectacular and if it was made too late, that time is of the utmost importance was missed. For these reasons this type of photography is important to know how to anticipate moments of maximum intensity. However, you will often not have to wait for a special event to practice your skills because movement can be found everywhere around us.

Action Photography Tip #3: The necessary equipment

Freezing a subject in a photograph can be achieved by triggering the flash. In terms of objectives used for everyday actions you can use just about any kind of objective, but when it comes to shooting sports activities telephoto lenses are mandatory. If the action takes place near the camera, lenses with focal lengths between 200 mm and 300 mm are sufficient. But for the action that takes place on a runway, stage or stadium, which implies a rather large distance between the camera and the subject you need lenses with a focal length of 400 mm, 500 mm or even 600 mm in certain situations.

Action Photography Tip 4: Positioning

Besides the use of devices that will help capture the subject and setting a proper exposure time, camera positioning is another important factor contributing to the success of action photography. Its location must coincide with the person who will view the picture. If you manage to transpose the viewer into the atmosphere and set the scene your picture will be even more spectacular.

Read More