HOW to photograph FIREWORKS - STEP by STEP walkthrough with Camera Settings - Nikon Z9

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Matt Shannon (Thats me) is an inspired nature and landscape photographer living on Vancouver Island. His images have captured an international audience and his artwork hangs in homes around the world. He has developed a keen eye for detail and a passion for striking images. Matt is an enthusiastic teacher and hosts regular workshops aimed at inspiring and equipping photographers.
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[@MattShannonPhoto]

Do you use BULB mode to capture fireworks too? Thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next video. Cheers!

[@Sandra-qy7rf]

Thank you for the video! Great work

[@onlyvideoillupload]

Bulb Mode is the way

[@hexium_]

Hey man just wanted to say thank you for the technique advice, it worked out really well for me!

[@marvinorellana1576]

Perfect!

[@Master-Blaster-4x4]

SHORT VERSION: ISO 200 F11 BULB

[@robbiegershen8602]

great video! my one question is for BULB, what would you say in how long you’re opening the shutter for at a given time

[@Sandra-qy7rf]

Fantastic! This spot by the beach is a great location to view. No power lines or trees in the way and the view is wide open.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Totally! The photos I took on Halloween had a bunch of power lines and communication lines in front of the fireworks. I had to remove them in post

[@coastalforgecoffee1507]

Happy Canada Day! AND Happy 4th of July. Thanks

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July! Cheers

[@philipsturm]

I like the composite idea. I shot the 4th of July here with a cool storm cloud background, but I didn't blend any of the extra fireworks blasts. I'm gonna try it.

[@bigbrownmab189]

A lot of cityscape, landscape and timelapse stuff down across the way in Seattle. Like to photograph fireworks and milkyway as well which milkyway season will be the best end of July through Aug around these parts !!

[@anitahorvatirl]

Amazing finished picture... I'm experimenting with every type of photography. It's good to learn new settings for fireworks.. That will be useful next month for me 🥰

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Happy to hear it! I know there are a few other techniques that other photographers use but I find this approach the best. Thanks for watching and good luck on your next shoot! Cheers

[@anitahorvatirl]

@@MattShannonPhoto you are welcome. Can't wait to see more of your content.. Happy shooting

[@iCresto]

Hello! Amazing video, I feel really inspired by your shots as a budding photographer. Quick question regarding bulb mode, do you press the shutter when you hear the mortars firing? And do you let go at the peak of the burst or after it has died off? I assume AFS-C is used for fireworks? Thanks, once again for being so inspiring with all your videos.

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks so much for sharing another wonderful video like always Matt 🎉I will try it tonight in New York city for today the 4 of july 🗽🎉🎊

[@MattShannonPhoto]

New York City should have a good show! Exciting. Thank you for watching and Happy 4th of July! Cheers

[@4034miguel]

Glad to have discovered this channel. Cheers.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Happy to hear it, thank you!

[@jonstout7635]

Very interesting approach, and your photos validate everything you shared. I only wish I had a body of water like I did in Michigan and Indiana. Shooting at f8 certainly gives me more lens options too. Thanks Matt!

[@MattShannonPhoto]

You are most welcome! It may seem a bit risky using bulb mode, but it works quite well. Same for lightening too IMO. I am open to hear what other photographers do. Perhaps your technique is better, feel free to share. Thanks again for watching and your feedback!

[@jamiesawyer28041978]

Subscribed. Loves your content and very informative

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Awesome, thank you! Welcome to my channel!

[@oaritaphotography6281]

I love your channel, I'm new and I learned a lot from your photographic outings, I like the intro of the video you have, I'll look for how to do something similar.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Welcome to my channel, so great to have you. What a great compliment to receive thank you, I’m glad to hear. I hope more of my videos do the same! Cheers!

[@raydongreen]

Loved the vid and I just hit that Subscribe button. two thumbs up sir.

[@noneedtochange9413]

EPIC! Was it easy to pull focus during a darker time of the year when you set up in the dark? (New years eve and halloween)

[@MattShannonPhoto]

I arrive early and check my focus ring to see how far away the fireworks would be from where I would be sitting. If I couldn’t do that, I would take test shots and check my work (always good to check work regardless). I’d then pull focus and adjust manually.

[@PhotoPop61]

Hi Matt, thanks so much for the video. I’m a new subscriber. At about 4 1/2 minutes into your video you talk about taking pictures of the foreground. You mentioned taking pictures at 20 to 25 seconds is that of the foreground? I’m just asking because I figured with people walking, wouldn’t your image come out blurry? Please excuse me if I misunderstood you.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Hi, thank you for your question! You are correct, at 20-30 seconds some people would be moving around and that is what was happening for a few of my shots. 30-45 mins prior to the fireworks starting, I took photos of the foreground at a faster shutter speed to correct for some of this. I didn't explain it very well in the video it seems. My final image consists of the fireworks, some 20-30 second long exposures of the foreground and a few from earlier that evening at a faster shutter. What is tricky about combining photos taken at different times of the evening, is the lighting, white balance and reflective color (especially while the fireworks are going off). It's nice to have options and images taken at different shutter speeds just in case but all-in-all, a little motion blur adds some movement to the image if people are walking around and for me, that is totally fine. I hope that makes sense! Thank you again for watching and follow up if you have any more questions! Cheers

[@PhotoPop61]

@@MattShannonPhoto thank you for responding. Are you on Instagram or Facebook?

[@robertbarnes2598]

Great ideas. Have you played around with precapture for fireworks? My buddy has been doing it with lightning.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Ooooo that is a great idea. No I have not tried pre capture for fireworks. Nice thing is about fireworks is they are fairly slow and a lot of the times you can see the small ball of fire shoot up into the sky before it explodes. Lightening on the other hand is fast and unpredictable and pre capture would work great! We don’t get much lightening here on the west coast of Canada. Hmmmm, I hope to try this out on one of my trips where lightening storms are more common. Thanks for the tip! Cheers

[@brycechin1349]

More landscape but I really want to try more astro and wildlife

[@Sanctustormentor]

Amazing photoworks. Liked and subscribed. Do you have a tutorial for what you dis at 8:42? Thanks in advance.

[@craigpiferphotography]

I still remember many years ago that I asked a co-worker how he would shoot fireworks. He said he would get some high ISO film (probably 1600). I did correct him pretty quickly on that. My settings are similar to yours, ISO 100, f/8 on bulb, anywhere from 2 to 10 seconds or so. I did my first YT Short last week with a quick how to. I love shooting fireworks, but the last few years I've been too lazy to get anywhere to shoot them.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

I just checked out your short! Well done. Great minds think alike 😄. I’ve tried a few other ways to photograph fireworks but this way is the best IMO. Thanks for sharing! Cheers

[@davidligon6088]

Nice composite! Would love to see a video on how you combined the images in Photoshop. What focal length did you use for this shoot?

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Thank you! My focal length was 14mm for all of my shots taken on my Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. Combining images in Photograph would be a fun video to share. :)

[@coffeeatitsbest1500]

Grab a coffee, it is going to be a late night.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Totally! I didn't get home until midnight. Fireworks started at 10:15pm.

[@Bigdaddydoverwatch]

Not gonna lie liked and subscribed for the “I don’t wanna go actually” planned to do some headshots a cave and Gettysburg this weekend and that’s exactly how I felt when I got in my car 😅

[@jamessnapsphotographylowes2236]

Great video! I’m about to order myself a new setup! I’m going to get a Nikon D850 camera body and also the Nikon 200-500mm F5.6 VR! I would love to here your personal opinions on the D850 and how good you think it is!? 😊

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Ahh yes here is your first comment about the D850. Sorry for not getting back to you right away. The D850 is epic! I still own and use one today and I also own a 200-500 f/5.6 VR lens. Amazing lens for the price. They are a great pair. Happy shooting!

[@jamessnapsphotographylowes2236]

@@MattShannonPhoto Thanks so much for taking your time out to reply to my message! I am very glad to hear that you like the D850 and the Nikon 200-500mm F/5.6 VR lens! I’ve just placed my order and I should be getting it all on Wednesday! I have also ordered a new Lowepro Pro Trekker 300AW camera bag too! I can’t wait to get back out there and take some epic photos! I especially love taking photos of Owls so I really enjoyed this video that you put up! I also like some black and white images too but I always find that you have to be very specific and make the right choices when you choose which image is going to be black and white because some images of course look better in colour! I think sometimes black and white can give the viewer and more deeper feeling if that makes sense!

[@jamessnapsphotographylowes2236]

Can I ask do you have to buy a specific battery Grip for the D850 in order for the camera to be able to shoot at 9FPS or can any battery grip that’s compatible work fine?

[@Acadien56]

Q: did you lower your tripod so you could be sitting down with your feet in the last photo composition?

[@MattShannonPhoto]

That is a great question. I did not lower my tripod. The tripod was fairly low during my shoot. I was sitting down and the camera was at head height. To get my feet in the picture, I tilted the camera down slightly, and because I was photographing with a wide angle lens, I didn’t have to tilt far to get my feet in the shot. I did have to do some correction in photoshop because of the distortion, but it worked out ok. In hindsight, I probably should have lowered my tripod to get a cleaner shot but the feet in the picture was an afterthought and I didn’t want to screw up my composition I already had of the fireworks and bay. I hope that makes sense. Thank you for your question. Cheers

[@Burning_.]

I'm subscribed Matt. Nice channel 👍. Greetings from Spain.

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Epic thank you! Welcome to the channel

[@MattShannonPhoto]

Where in Spain? I loved my time there!

[@Burning_.]

@@MattShannonPhoto Hi. I live in the north, on the border between Asturias and Castilla y León. What part of Spain did you visit?

[@MattShannonPhoto]

I traveled from France to Santander then down past Madrid to Valencia before driving up the coast to Barcelona. I loved my time there! Beautiful country.

[@Burning_.]

@@MattShannonPhoto Yes, Spain is very beautiful. I have lived in practically all the autonomous communities, and it has allowed me to know it well. Although there is always much to see. If you come back, I recommend Andalusia, which is located in the south of Spain. It has a very good atmosphere and gastronomy. Also the north of the Iberian peninsula, such as Galicia, Asturias, very similar to Santander (Cantabrian), but much steeper terrain. The community of Castilla y León, there is more historical heritage than in the rest of Spain or even other European countries, I recommend you visit.

[@JJRAIA-es9cj]

Landscapes

[@victoriangirl83]

Please no music while you're talking again. It's really annoying.

[@pandugusnadi9679]

😂

[@issacbrown7485]

Nah forreal lol. Or at least turn it down.

[@chriswhittton]

You should re name this how to use photoshop haha cool vid mate just jokes

[@MattShannonPhoto]

lol! too funny, I think you may be on to something here.

[@simplyviki]

strange that you didn't tell anything about where to focus while taking shot. For me thats very important for sharp images.

[@brentrandall6247]

You open up the aperture to around f11 or so. You don’t want a shallow DOF because the distance for different fireworks will vary. You should close down the aperture as much as you can typically for fireworks. Experiment. Even if he didn’t mention it, there are only a limited number of core settings. That’s how you learn! Move settings around and see how it looks.

[@Billkwando]

8:47 Oh, I see. So the images are composites, or one might say artificial, or even fake. Call me a purist, but that's not photography. Anybody can copy and paste. This makes me sad.

[@yuqin405]

What i am interested is only 20 seconds you could explain, ps or no ps. Disappointed.