I hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth of July!!
If you live in Flagler County, you’ve still got one more night of fireworks coming your way!
Be sure to head down to the town center tonight, to catch the show at 9 PM …OR! You can head out to Hammock Beach and catch their show (at 9pm!) as well!
Every year thousands of people take photos of those balls of fire being shot into the sky – but it’s a little harder than you might think! So I wanted to post a little how to on how to get some great shots of the show! In this post are some of the photos I shot last night down by the pier, along with the settings I used for each.
ISO 100
F/5
5 sec exp.
24-70mm
First things first… A list of what you’ll need…
A camera that allows for a manual or Bulb setting.
A wide angle, or telephoto lens. (the ones I use are a 24-70mm, and a 70-200mm)
A sturdy area to shoot
A tripod
NO FLASH!
ISO 100
F/16
15 sec exp
24-70mm
Try to arrive wherever you are watching the show early, so you still have some light to get set up, but also so you can find a good spot! Try looking for areas that aren’t obstructed by buildings, trees, signs, etc!
Next set up your tripod and get it facing towards the general direction of the show.
On your camera, switch to manual mode. This applies both to focusing on your lens, and your camera mode! (You can try auto -focus if you’re brave, but typically it’s harder to do in low-light scenarios.)
Next set your ISO to 100-200. The higher the ISO the more grain (or noise) that will show up in your photo.
ISO 200
F/16
6 sec exp
70-200mm
Set your Aperture (F-stop) to f/11 to start with… play around with this one a little… the smaller the aperture (f/5.6), the fuzzier/wider the fireworks will be, the larger (f/16), the more defined/ smaller the light trails will be!
* a side note about f-stops, the smaller the f-stop (f/1.4) the MORE light that will be let in; the larger, (f/22) the darker it will be!
Switch to “bulb” on your camera…( if you arent familiar with this setting, its simply marked “B”) Hold open the shutter for about 5-10 seconds, and that’s it!
* a side note about your bulb setting, the longer you hold down the shutter button, the MORE light you let in!
ISO 100
F/10
4 sec exp
70-200mm
The key is to take A LOT of photos. (Last night I shot around 100 photos, for a 30 minute show) Experiment with your settings, and focal length too! And most importantly enjoy the show!!
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