There are the usual places to view fireworks; out in the open, sitting on the bay with tens of thousands of people, or you can get creative and find your own little spot all by yourself. Jeff’s decision this night led us down to the Coronado Golf Course. He did some planning to find the best private view by taking in to consideration where the boat would be anchored in Glorietta Bay that was launching the display. He then carefully considered the foreground. There are few places as lush and beautiful as golf courses and Coronado’s 8th hole green is set up perfectly for a fireworks display over Glorietta since it has everything, palm trees and lush vegetation, a nice clearing, and best of all: a tranquil pond right in front for some nice reflections.

So we hauled our chairs and photo equipment down on to the links and setup at our location (right off the green of course as not to damage the dance floor.) Within a few minutes we realized how rewarding this private little location was. Are there better locations? Probably, but there’s something about large crowds I try to avoid if possible.

So here’s a checklist of things to consider when shooting fireworks:

What you’ll need

A SLR or any camera you can put in manual mode to adjust aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.
A sturdy tripod
A remote shutter release
Creative thinking for your location

ISO

Use a low ISO like 100-200. This will give you the cleanest noise free images.

Shutter Speed

Since the beauty of fireworks are the light trails they make, it’s best to use a longer shutter speed. Think somewhere around a couple seconds, but because fireworks all vary in size and duration, the best technique is to use Bulb Mode so you can have the shutter open for precisely the time you want. That way you can start the exposure right before the fireworks burst and stop it when the trails disappear. For this you’ll want a remote shutter release which explain later.

Aperture

A good aperture for fireworks is between f/8-f/16.

Manual Focus

Set you focus to manual and make sure it’s set to infinity.

Focal Length

Typically you’ll want to shoot at a wider focal length, but there’s nothing wrong with cropping it in a little tighter with a longer lens in an artistic and abstract way.

Use a remote shutter release

This helps for shooting with Bulb Mode and keeps you from having to touch your camera causing shake during long exposures. You don’t need an expensive one, just make sure it’s compatible with your camera. I think I paid $12 for mine and it works like a charm.

Use a sturdy tripod.

This is an absolute must for long exposures unless you have something else you can set your camera on, but you have a better chance for shake and damage to your beloved equipment by setting it on something not meant for holding cameras.

Creative thinking for your location

Shooting just fireworks is kind of boring. Add a nice foreground or something to tell a story. Be creative.

That’s pretty much it. Remember always to practice respect when using locations for your shoot and leave everything the way you found it. Especially golf courses.

What you’ll need is a camera you can control manually, a tripod, a cable release or timer, at the very least a semi-wide angle lens, and some serious cojones, balls, courage, machismo, chutzpah, or whatever your word for it may be. You may even call it absolute stupidity since we serve as electrical antennas when out in the elements during a lightning show. Always remember that any time you’re outside in a thunderstorm, you are risking your life. If it’s possible to be inside some type of shelter this would be ideal, but sometimes that’s just not possible. It’s also just fantastic, I might add in the most sarcastic of ways, that astrology books say I’m at risk of death by fire, explosion, or being struck by lightning.

So here we are sitting in the pool, enjoying some margaritas and tequila shots when the weather started getting a little weird. You could feel the electricity in the air and before long some rather ominous clouds could be seen on the horizon. As soon as I saw lightning I got out of the pool, grabbed my camera and since I didn’t have my tripod with me, found a hollow inverted pole I set my camera on so I wouldn’t have to worry about shake. At this point the lightning was far enough away that I wasn’t nervous about being wet and out in the open. This first shot was taken at this location. I had to take over one hundred shots before I was lucky enough to catch this since there was so much light I couldn’t use long exposures yet. This was taken with my Nikkor 18-200VR lens at ISO 100, f/22 – 1/3 of a sec at 18mm. I shot this at f/22 because there was a lot of foreground objects I also wanted in focus, but I could have also gone wider. Hey, I’d been drinking.

As the storm approached and the thunder grew much louder, we decided to get in doors. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed upstairs to near the top floor where my brother and Tina had a balcony with a perfect view. This time I had my mandatory tripod since it was starting to get dark. One of the first shots is the intro photo for this blog post. This shot was taken with my other lens, the Tokina 11-16 ATX at ISO 100, f/11, 7 seconds at 13mm.

Here’s a guide for reference, just adjust your shutter speed for correct light:
For dangerous lightning that is very close – 100 ISO, f/16-f/22
Relatively close, up to a mile – 100 ISO, f/11
Distant lightning 3-5 miles – 100 ISO f/5.6
Distant lightning 5-8 miles – 100 ISO f/4
Far away lightning 8-15 miles – 200 ISO f/4-f/5.6

Once it was totally dark, I was able to leave the shutter open for 30 seconds and since there were times where strikes would occur every 5-15 seconds, I would capture lightning just about every time and sometimes multiple strike in one exposure. Shooting lightning in conditions like this is not at all difficult. The camera and nature are really doing all the work, leaving you to sit back and enjoy the show, just be safe. At the very least, try to have some cover and never drink cocktails when shooting lightning.