Happy July!!!
My favorite holiday is upon us and I am excited to share some tips with you to photograph the best of your Independence day festivities!!
Growing up outside of Boston Massachusetts, the fourth of July was pretty much the largest celebration of the year and everyone took part. Every year my family, friends and I would gather with the thousands of others on our high school football field at dusk. We'd lay out on blankets, and shortly after the sunset, excitedly stare up at the night sky to watch an incredible show of pyrotechnics light up our faces.
We'd oooo and ahhhh over the different colors and shapes shouting out which ones were our favorites with each pop, crackle and boom (mine are of the sparkly willow tree variety). Back then, in an amateur attempt to freeze the magic, I'd try my best to photograph the show but the images were always dark and unexciting.
So now after a bit of experience and to help you celebrate this year, I'm sharing a few fun pro photo tips on how you can capture the perfect firework moment like a professional with your phone and with your camera!
Photo Tip: How to take the perfect firework photo from your phone!
1. Stabilize the phone on the ground, or with a tripod (or very, very steady hands).
2. Turn off the flash, digital zoom, HDR (or auto-HDR).
3. Tap the screen to focus on the firework you want to capture which will
therefore set the automatic focus and exposure for the firework and not the
night sky
4. Take photos in burst to capture multiple images to have multiple images
to pick through!
Photo Tip: How to take the perfect firework photo with your DSLR/Camera!
1. Stabilize the camera with a tripod.
2. Set camera to manual mode
3. Turn off the flash, digital zoom, HDR (or auto-HDR).
4. Reduce the ISO figure to reduce the chance of overexposure. A good starting point is ISO 200 Aperature f/11
5. Turn off autofocus and manually set lens to infinity focus.
6. Play with your shutter speed- if you can, put it to bulb mode which leaves the shutter open as long as you want (this is a great setting for night sky photos too)- you'll likely need to keep it open for a few seconds :)
