It is not easy photographing fireworks, no matter the quality of your camera.
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Tens of thousands of people will head to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin to check out Skyfire this weekend and a fair few who attempt photography will return with little more than blurry shots of colours in the sky.
Canberra Times photographer Rohan Thomson offers amateurs some tips for capturing fireworks, recommending they make sure their camera still, use long exposures and set their camera to manual mode with the flash off.
Put yourself in the picture and you could win a double pass to the Dendy Premium Lounge. Take your best selfie with fireworks in the background, with or without mates, and send it to the Canberra Times.
You can email us at online@canberratimes.com.au, tweet us with the hashtag #CTSkyfire, tag us on Instagram @canberratimes or post it on our Facebook page for your change to win.
Rohan Thomson's tips for photographing fireworks
- Use a tripod or find a method to hold the camera still.
- Before the fireworks begin, get your camera set up and frame your shot. There are plenty of options with framing. Do you want to give your photo some context? People in the foreground or the regatta point hillside might work. Or do you want to capture something more abstract? Try a tightly cropped detail shot of the fireworks falling through the sky.
- Your automatic settings will struggle with the changing light conditions during the fireworks,so set your camera to manual mode with the flash off.
- As a starting point I generally shoot fireworks at ISO100, somewhere around f8-16, with exposure time somewhere around 1-3seconds. An easy way to control exposure is to use the ‘bulb’ mode on your camera. This has the added advantage of making individual fireworks easier to anticipate and capture.
- The display goes for a few minutes, so take the time to have a look at your photographs and adjust your framing and settings as you shoot.
Tips for photographing fireworks with an iPhone or camera phone.
- Your standard camera app will struggle to capture the fireworks so your best bet is to use an app which allows for longer exposures.
- Find a way to hold your phone very still. Rest it on a solid object or prop it up against something which will stop it moving.