The following involves areas that cover both film and digital photography. (Notes specific for film are in parenthesis.)  [Notes specific for digital are in brackets.]

Camera - You will need a camera that can be put into a fully-manual mode, with full manual control over f/stop and exposure time. [Digital - you will also need manual white-balancing and manual ISO control.] This usually means that a point-n-shoot camera will not be capable of anything but pyro snapshots. While this may not be a bad thing, you will not be able to get a picture with those long streaks usually associated with fireworks photography. You will also need to disable any vibration reduction features the camera may have. Funny - you spend many hundreds or thousands of dollars for this big, fancy camera, only to disable all these expensive features!

Tripod - You will be shooting long exposures at night. This requires more than a steady hand - you'll need a tripod. The stronger the better. This is the single most important addition to pyro photography after the camera. Without a good tripod, you will not be happy with your shots. Period. (A monopod will not work for this application.)

Remote Shutter Release - Because of the extended length of time the shutter may have to remain open, a remote shutter release will greatly add to the quality of the shot. (Film - Depending on your camera, you may want the an addition of an automatic film advance motor so you can sit back and shoot. Usually, you'll need to manually advance the film. That's fine - just make sure the camera is steady when you release the shutter for the next shot.) [Digital - your camera may not have a remote shutter device. In this case, if possible, don't extend your tripod up to it's fullest height. Keeping it lower will help increase it's steadiness.]

Lens - This depends on *where* you are taking your pictures. Being a pyro at heart, I usually like to get as close as possible so I can feel the 'thump' of the lift and the break of the shell. If you like to get this close, you will need a lens in the 24mm to 35mm range - a fairly wide angle. The shells will break in a much larger field of view, and you will need to cover more sky. If you back up a bit - maybe take advantage of the landscape - then the field of view will be much narrower, and you'll wind up using a 100mm to 200mm lens. I find that to take a good shot requires backing up. It's easier to frame the shot and the results are usually better.

Film -  Because you will be taking shots at night, a lot of folks think that you will need very fast film - ISO 400 or faster. BUT think about the subject you're shooting - a bright flaming object. It will not be able to pick up colors of the burning stars very well. The faster films usually result in a graininess to the background that will have to be dealt with later, and will also augment any light pollution that may be around. I would actually use a much slower film - ISO 64 to 100.  I really like a silky-black behind the fireworks. [Digital - Set the camera on the lowest ISO rating possible - usually 100. Make sure your storage device can hold at least 50 of the highest possible resolution pictures your camera can take.]

The following is copied right out of Photographing Fireworks (mainly because I shoot digital, and I need a film background here): "Naturally you can shoot fireworks with any type of film -- negative, transparency, even black and white -- but I would recommend color transparency film, and the film I use is Fujichrome 50 or 100. Every photographer has his or her favorite, and this is mine. So use whatever film you're comfortable and familiar with. Some photographers recommend using tungsten film for photographing fireworks, while other photographers use daylight film. The tungstenites say that daylight balanced film gives the fireworks too reddish a cast. The daylighters say they like that. If you have the luxury of two camera bodies, two tripods, why not set them both up and use tungsten film in one, daylight film in the other? Then you be the judge when you see the results!"

Exposure Settings - (Again, this is from Photographing Fireworks) Set your shutter speed to BULB, and set the f/stop to the following:

(end of quote)

These are good guidelines. As you shoot more, you will learn to compensate to your surroundings.

Length of Exposure - How many times have I heard "Yeah, I usually hold it open for 5 seconds. That's the best." Hogwash. The length of time to hold a shot open depends on what you're trying to shoot. If you want to isolate one shell, then wait for the lift and open the shutter. Keep it held open until the stars have flamed out, then close it. How long is that? It depends on the shell. If you want to get more then one shell in the shot, you will have to hold the shutter open longer. This may result in some unwanted background light/detail that is undesirable. If that's the case, then cover the lens with a dark object (being veeery careful NOT to touch the camera), such as a black piece of cloth or a hat. Again, expose the film with the entire pyro effect to cover the full range of colors. [Digital - longer exposures can result in increased noise from the CCD. This multi-exposure step may be bypassed by combining pictures in PhotoShop. It depends on how much work in post you want to do and how steady your tripod is.] Don't be too hasty to close the shutter. I have missed a couple of nice twinkling effects because I was already getting ready for the next shell.

There are also some other considerations to ponder.

All information presented on these pages can be used for your personal use. If you want to publish or reproduce any or all if the info here, you must have permission from Tom Calderwood. If you find any information that is incorrect, please notify me and I will take care of it as soon as possible.

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