Fireworks: a Crash Course - by Jed Wee

The use of fireworks has always been associated with occasions of celebrations, and Singapore's National Day every 9th of August is known for its stunning display of colourful and diverse fireworks. Because of their colourful form and intricate patterns, fireworks are a joy to behold, and present an interesting subject that many photographers try hard to capture on film.

Fireworks present a unique photographic challenge. Because they rarely last for an extended period of time, the photographer needs to arrive prepared and be ready for the crucial moment. The vast expanse of black night sky makes trusting the camera's TTL light meter, normally ever so reliable, the equivalent of committing photographic suicide. Furthermore, using a different range of shutter speeds can result in completely different results.

However, do not be discouraged. Shooting fireworks is actually a very straightforward task once you come to terms with it. Here are a few things to get you started.

Equipment Needed

Camera
Film
Fresh batteries, or at least spares
Tripod
Matte, non-reflective black surface
Torch (see below)
Of the list above, only the camera, film and batteries are absolutely essential. Everything else is optional, but recommended.

You can get by with just about any camera, and definitely don't need an all-singing, all-dancing, bells and whistles model. What would be very helpful would be a camera that can be set to manual exposure, so that you can control both shutter speed and aperture. This would give you the greatest versatility.

You can shoot either slide film or colour negative film, but because one of the main features about fireworks is their spectacular colour, black and white stock is not usually the medium of choice. The recommendation would be to use colour slides because the results when viewed will be much better. The radiance of the fireworks would be retained to a certain extent when viewing a slide on a lightbox, or when projected in a darkened room, but would be lost when viewing the reflected light off a colour print. If you've never tried shooting a roll of slides before, now's a good time to start!

Most modern draw current from the batteries when their shutters are kept open. For fireworks, this means that instead of consuming a fraction of a second of power such as might be encountered during a normal day time exposure, the batteries could be called upon to keep the shutter open for a much longer period of many seconds, even up to several minutes. Hence a set of fresh batteries is ideal, because stopping to change to a spare set half-way through a frenetic five minutes, in the dark, is far from a good idea.

Some people might be surprised at the omission of the tripod from my "absolute essentials". However, you can still get decent shots with a camera hand held, although you would lose the ability to capture the firework trails. As with slide film, a tripod hence comes strongly recommended!

The requirement for a matte, non-reflective black surface can be met by everything from a stiff piece of black card, to an opaque piece of black cloth. I've used a Sony Discman case as a compromise once when I neglected to pack the black card. The purpose of the "card" (for ease of purpose of reference) is to allow you to "pause" a long exposure, if there should be a lull in the fireworks. This will be explained further in the techniques section below.

It is a good idea also to bring a pocket torch. This is probably close to absolutely essential if you have an older camera where you cannot see the controls in the dark, but a good idea for everyone because chances are you will be shooting from a dark location, and you might have to scramble around looking for a small object at some time during the shoot. Just to give you an idea of things that could go missing, they might include lens caps, film canisters, cable releases, a $50 note (you never know!), etc.

Technique

General advice
Long exposure
Multiple exposure
The black card
Short exposure
General advice

Set your aperture before hand. You should set an aperture of between f8 to f16 with ISO 100 film. All the settings will give useable, but slightly different results. For example, a smaller aperture such as f16 will result in thinner fireworks trails, whereas a wider aperture towards f8 will cause the trails to "fatten" out and become more prominent. But in complex exposures with many bursts in the same frame, this can be very detrimental. Also consider the distance from which you are shooting the fireworks. If you are very far away (say, more than a kilometer or two away), consider opening the aperture values by one stop.
Scout around for the best position, even after you've arrived the location you intend to shoot from with plenty of time to spare. Estimate where the fireworks will be, even if you do not have any idea at all, and set your camera up to shoot at that estimated location. That way, if your estimate is good, you will be prepared; and if it is not, you will have lost nothing as had you not taken any steps to prepare at all.
Try to include some subject that imparts a sense of scale and location. In this case the National Stadium is a good bet, if you are shooting from an elevated position. Alternatively, lit ships, reflections of lights or even the fireworks themselves off the water, etc. are all good possibilities. Avoid subjects that are too bright because otherwise they will get overexposed from a long exposure. As a rough guide, most buildings look best about a stop either side of f11 for 8 seconds, ISO 100.
If you feel confident enough, plan to try different shots during the brief flurry of activity. You could for example try different compositions from your vantage point. Obviously you will not have sufficient time to change location, but you can for example change the orientation of your camera, or shoot with a different anchoring subject (see point above), etc. You could also attempt to try long exposures, short exposures and multiple exposures; however, I would not recommend this if you are not completely familiar with your camera, even if you have a torch with you. If something goes wrong while trying to switch from one setup to another, you can easily ruin the rest of your pictures.
Shoot lots of film, quickly. It's very difficult to plan a fireworks shot properly, in the sense that unless you have extremely privileged information, you will not know what types of fireworks are going to appear at any given point in time. Don't be afraid to use 30s on a single exposure, because you will get a unique image that can only be obtained by a 30s exposure. But keep tripping the shutter so that the camera is never idle while the fireworks are going off. You will have roughly 5min on the preview, and 10min on National Day, to get a shot you are happy with. If not, it's another year's wait!

Long exposure
You will need to set the camera up on a sturdy tripod. Try and frame your shot before the fireworks begin (no pun intended), because there's a reason why that saying exists! Your camera should be set to Bulb or Time in manual exposure, so that you can control a lengthy exposure manually. An alternative is to preset a long exposure time (for example 8 to 16 seconds), but this presents less flexibility. Controlling the timing manually with a cable release and Bulb/Time allows flexibility to react to the fireworks as they are fired. Because the National Day fireworks come thick and fast, an overall exposure of more than about 6 seconds is rarely needed (this excludes "black card" time, see below).

Multiple exposure
You will need to set the camera up on a sturdy tripod if you intend to include anything in the frame in addition to the fireworks themselves; otherwise, you could end up with two National Stadiums for example. Similar to a long exposure, you will need to frame your shot before the fireworks begin. You should set your camera to manual exposure, at any shutter speed from 2s to 1/125s; you can even experiment with a different range of speeds within a single multiply-exposed frame! Again, I wouldn't recommend this unless you are comfortable with using your camera, and be careful not to jar the camera while changing shutter speeds within the exposure. The important thing to note is not to widen your aperture as you would with normal multiple exposures -- keep the aperture that you would use for a long or short exposure, the reason should be apparent.

The black card
Using a black card with a long exposure achieves approximately the same thing as a multiple exposure. It allows you to "pause" the exposure, enabling you to avoid over exposing the stationary light sources such as the National Stadium lights, while waiting for a new burst of fireworks. Simply hold the card in front of the lens when you wish to "pause" the exposure, and remove it when the fireworks start again. Note this process can be used in reverse, to properly expose any stationary light sources sufficiently if there are too many fireworks in the sky to use a sufficiently long exposure; simply cover the lens when the fireworks are on and complete the exposure when there is a lull. Be careful not to move the camera or lens when you use the card. The safest way is to leave a gap between the lens and the card (hence lens caps are not suitable). If the material is non reflective and the location you are shooting at is relatively dark, this will not be a problem.

Short exposure
A short exposure can also be used to good effect, because some fireworks appear better when frozen rather than as a trail; especially certain forms of wispy types that are not sufficiently bright to register properly as a trail, or that because of the angle of movement much of the burst would overlap. Here, lean towards the wider apertures (f5.6 to f11 with ISO 100), and use a relatively short shutter speed of 1/60s to 1/125s; thereby allowing you to handhold the camera if so desired. Bear in mind however that dimmer, stationary light sources included within the frame may by underexposed on film.


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Hopefully, that will be sufficient to get you off and running. No doubt there will be points I've missed out. Further, I apologise for the lack of illustrations and the simple format of the article due to lack of time. I do however hope that you have found it useful, and I'd love to hear of your experiences. Oh, and good luck!