5 Tips For Taking Photos of Fireworks With Your Phone
Taking photos of fireworks is tough — they’re hard to capture on any camera. Every 4th of July and New Year’s Eve we strive to fulfill the impossible dream of capturing a magnificent shot worthy of a million likes and re-twits. PhotoHand has some tips for you to make it easier.
1. Turn off the flash
The flash illuminates objects only within five to ten feet of you. Presumably, you want to shine the light on your friends and family in the foreground. Remember that the flash will over-expose the image. The fireworks will turn up to dark. Suggestion: get their faces lit with a light that’s behind you and your camera.
2. Turn off the HDR
HDR is bad for fireworks because they’re a moving, morphing subject. As a result, when the camera captures the multiple exposures to blend the fireworks together into one HDR image, they won’t match up.
3. Create a long exposure
Third party apps, like the free A Better Camera for Android and the $.99 Manual on Apple will give you these capabilities with a minimal learning curve.
The longer the shutter is open, the more light gets exposed to the photo sensor. 5-10 seconds exposure should do the trick. Start timing the shot right before the incendiary explodes.
4. Use a tripod or a monopod
If you are really into it, use a tripod to keep your mobile camera stable during the longer exposure. You can also use a selfie stick as an ad hoc monopode to steady your shot.
5. Have your photos edited
Even professionals get their photos edited. You can do some simple cropping and photo editing yourself and for those special images, PhotoHand will give you a hand to make them perfect.