david allio

4th of July Fireworks | ©2012 David Allio

In most communities across the United States of America it is a heart-felt tradition to gather at a fairgrounds or public square near sunset on the 4th of July to “Ooh” and “Aah” at the “rocket’s red glare” and “bombs bursting in air.” Fireworks are one of the most discussed and popular photo opportunities of the summer.

Serious amateurs and professional photographers have benchmark settings for capturing the burning minerals streaking across the night sky. A starting point is essential. However, having photographed fireworks displays in nearly half of the United States, I have concluded that every show is different – varying in size, timing, content, and brilliance. Each of those factors impact proper exposure.

Although post-processing of digital images allows for sandwiching and layering of multiple single bursts into a frame filled with pyrotechnics, I remain a traditionalist and work to capture a well-composed image of multiple bursts in a single exposure. There is a greater feeling of accomplishment when all of the elements come together without time-consuming post-processing.

This photograph from a community fireworks show was merely re-sized from the high-resolution original before posting to the Web. A Nikon D3 camera equipped with a Nikkor AF Zoom 24-70mm f/2.8G lens was set to the minimum focal length. Based on the altitude and brilliance of the explosions an aperture of f/10 was selected. The pattern of this particular show was for two rockets to be launched nearly simultaneously. A shutter speed of 4 seconds allowed for two sets of shells to explode and spread during a single exposure. The exposure formula was completed with a film speed of 250 ISO. A tripod and remote trigger were used to prevent camera vibration during the exposure.