Fireworks Photography: from shooting to editing (step-by-step)

↓ Download my Fireworks Photography checklist here ↓
bit.ly/fireworkschecklist
Fireworks photography is NOT at all something difficult... Indeed, with some creativity and using tricks in the editing, it is really simple!
In this video I show you my favorite method to take photos of fireworks.
Contrary to the popular "Bulb" mode shooting technique, I rather take short identical exposures, and stack some selected shots in editing (if necessary).
I go through the camera settings and then process the Raw photo in Adobe Lightroom Classic.
Here I select the frames I like, and then merge them into a single exposure using Adobe Photoshop.
All the fireworks photos you see here were taken on St Stephen's Day in Budapest with a Canon 6D with a 28mm lens.
My straight-to-the-point photography tutorials:
iwillbeyourphotoguide.com/blog
Video footage of St Stephen's Day in Budapest (check it out, it's really cool):
• Szent István napi tűzi...
#fireworks

[@dash2k8gmail]

There are numerous fireworks tutorials on KZbin and this is the best one.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you so much! :)

[@faith6857]

I totally agree!

[@rohangabay2069]

Well Done! Thank You!

[@ksnmurthy4476]

Perfectly explained with clarity and without any confusion. 👍

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Glad you think so! :)

[@sareesh_morazha_vlog]

Thank you ❤

[@mrkevinhoang]

I took his photo guide in 2016. It was one of the best things I did in Budapest. Keep up the great videos brother.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you so much Kevin, I really appreciate that! :) I hope I can soon get back to business!

[@johnmontana18]

EXCELLENT

[@arminloacker9173]

Thank you Miklos! Once more a great video !

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Glad you enjoyed it Armin! :)

[@dolwolfianphotography]

Thank you as in same time you can enjoy more the firework with this method 👍👍

[@MrDoodsie56]

Thanks Miklos! Very informative video. Every time I see a night shot of Budapest I'm reminded of the wonderful night on your night tour. Stay safe! ~Dale.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you Dale! I also miss Budapest - I haven't done any photo tours since this March, and I really miss meeting new people. To compensate for that, I started to organize night photo workshops for Hungarians, I'll have the first one in a few days. So I now I have an excuse to wander around at night in the city :) Stay healthy!

[@salehalrashdan]

Thank you

[@miklosmayerphoto]

You're welcome

[@vkouzm]

It is a very informative video. One of the best things is an explanation of the whole process starting from making the right settings to processing the images.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you Varvara, I'm happy to hear this :)

[@Fuallz]

That's very informative. Thanks!

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Happy to hear that! :)

[@quandrc]

great. Thank you

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Glad you liked it! :)

[@claricecylo]

Excellent photo guide in Budapest.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Hey Clarice, thank you! :) You were so lucky that you did the tours with me before the pandemic. It was a lot fun, I remember that tour vividly :)

[@krissanders853]

Great video, thank you!

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you Kris, glad you liked it! :) Btw, will you have fireworks on July 4th where you live?

[@cityblues2087]

Thanks Miklos. Excellent info. I only wish I'd seen video before the 4th of July fireworks. Oh well, next year. I'm ready for a trip to Budapest and another photo tour. Have fun today!

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you Chris! :)

[@keithclasgens3641]

Excellent video and technique! I had the pleasure of visiting Budapest for a week on a business trip. We took a river boat cruise the first night, and toured the city every chance we could. I was absolutely beautiful! I wish I had been able to take your night photography tour then. My pictures did not turn out very good.

[@Undiadebirding]

Really helpfull step by stept video. Congrats!!!

[@miklosmayerphoto]

You are welcome :)

[@sngtey]

Miklos, I want to thank you very much for sharing your skills. I have just shot the fireworks at Sydney Harbour Bridge and the result is the best that I have ever achieved. And setting the camera to shoot continuously at 5s f/11, it also freed my hands to do some videoing. Next time, I will have a second camera on another tripod, set at 5s f/18 or 4s f/16, to cater for super bright and concentrated clusters to avoid burnouts. One cannot predict when the fireworks will be too intense and also, will not have the time to adjust the setting (and causing camera-shake). To show my appreciation, if you are in Sydney on NewYearEve (with advance notice), I will try to persuade my wife, the owner, to fit you in at McMahons Point for one of the closest and best sites while viewing, hearing, FEELING and shooting the fireworks, without the crowds nor boats (on the water) to contaminate the reflections. Numbers are extremely restricted due to building and council regulations.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you so much for this wonderful comment, it really made my day! :) I'm happy that you were successful, and that you realised the same thing I realised: this method frees the photographer up during the shoot. If you have any photos ready, we'd love to see it! ;) And a huge thank you for that lovely offer! I visited Sydney in 2002, but I don't know when I'll go next. :) Have a Happy New Year!

[@sngtey]

I would send one shot to you but there is no provision here to include any photo. Also, my wife is a great traveler and I have told her that even if she is not a photographer, a photography tour guide is THE best to use when visiting any city/site in the world.

[@ejandersen2878]

Thanks Miklos, excellent presentation. I wish I had of did a tour with you when I visited Budapest.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Hopefully next time! ;)

[@bobmcnally1621]

Excellent information - I took Miklos' tour a couple of years ago and it was a great experience. Got to take pictures all over the city in 4 hours. On my own I would have gotten 1/4 of those shots

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Bob, that was quite some time ago, that was the year I started doing the tours :) It's great to hear that you remember the photo tour vividly, and thanks for your comment :) I hope I can soon restart the tours, I miss meeting new people quite much.

[@ruelapas6240]

Nice video. Thanks. 🙏👌🇵🇭

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you too :)

[@faith6857]

🌟Thank you so much for this lovely video. I am so excited to download your checklist so I can have it on hand when I go and photograph fireworks on the night of July 4th here in Arizona. I am subscribing to your channel to learn more about time-lapse photography, which has always fascinated me, but I have never done. Also, I just recently subscribed to Lightroom and Photoshop, so I am excited to edit my frames like you did!!!🎆🌠🎆

[@faith6857]

It went lovely, by the way, and the edits turned out fantastic. Thanks again!

[@incubus_the_man]

I just shot some fireworks video. I decided to use the widest lens I have but I wish I would have used a longer lens because the fireworks didn't fill up enough of the sky. I wish there was a way to tell how wide of a lens to shoot with. I know the variables are the size of the fireworks show, your distance from the fireworks, focal length of your lens and crop factor.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Yep, it's not easy to tell before the fireworks which lens will work best... When taking the photos you see in my video it was really easy - I didn't have anything wider than 28mm, and I was super close to it, plus they shot them very high :)

[@playboxlimited.]

Great video. Many thanks for the tips. You mentioned Bulb Mode at the beginning. Which Mode is recommended, Bulb or Manual?

[@miklosmayerphoto]

I like to use it on Manual, because with Bulb, you always have to keep attention and time every exposure

[@giovannifx.4945]

Hi Miklos, excellent video clip, essential and crystal clear! At min 5:22 you advise an ND filter in case of excess of brightness, or too close to the firework launching shell. I suppose 3 stop (ND8) would suffice for the purpose, no? Also: with an ND filter on would you suggest further slight adjustment to camera exposure, e.g. from 5 to 6 or even 7 seconds? Thank you 😃and congrats again for the valuable work!

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you Giovanni! :) Yes, a 3 stop filter will be just perfect. About shutter speed - good question, I would say it depends on how bright / dark the surroundings are. Basically I would put on the ND filter, set the shutter around 5-6-8 seconds, and then I would play with the aperture (in Manual mode). Just make sure to avoid burning the fireworks.

[@sngtey]

Miklos, yours is the best that I have learnt from for fireworks photography. You mentioned some burning in the middle part of each firework spray. Do you have any suggestion to correct that burnt out other than making the aperture smaller or a ND filter? However this might darken the photo.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Thank you! In this case I used f/16 and ISO 100, but because I was very close, even that wasn't enough. So I should have used a ND filter, at least a 2-3 stop strong one, so the highlights wouldn't have burnt out that much. I also could've used more narrow aperture, like f/22, but diffraction occurs there, making the image slightly soft. So I don't like to go over f/16.

[@sngtey]

@@miklosmayerphoto What about shooting at 3s or 4s and then staking them to further reduce the burn-out (most firework sprays are less than 3s)? Your stacking idea is brilliant and UNIQUE; it is 'legitimate' (two 5s shots = one 10s shot!) because I have shot in 10s shutter speed and it caused a white-out at the core of the spray and a loss of color generally. Will f/18 cause noticeable diffraction? Thank you for your response!

[@rogerparry4996]

Great video clearly explaining the necessary steps. Unfortunately I can't download the guide. The page just comes up blank.

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Hi Roger, thank you! I just checked it, and it worked for me. Just scroll down a littlebit on this page, and in the yellow box, click on the Download, and a popup form comes up. iwillbeyourphotoguide.com/fireworks-photography/

[@rogerparry4996]

@@miklosmayerphoto Hi Miklos. Clicking on the download in the yellow box just takes me to a new page that is blank. Nothing loads. Have tried on two computers and my tablet. Same result.

[@benchgod2170]

Good video! What exposure mode should I use?

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Manual mode

[@benchgod2170]

@@miklosmayerphoto Yes, but spot, metrix or average centered, for my exposimeter

[@irfanrahat]

I can see this option of edit in photoshop as layers in my Lightroom but that cannot be clicked as it’s in grey. What am I missing or my photoshop is old version I’m using PS 7.0 and LR CLASSIC 9.2.1

[@miklosmayerphoto]

Good question - then it seems that the two softwares don't recognize each other