#Prolevel fireworks how to#

Third party apps, like the free A Better Camera for Android and the $.99 Manual on iOS, can give you these capabilities with a minimal learning curve. With a pro-level camera, this is easy to do, but the default app on your smartphone may not provide these kinds of controls. Applying that to fireworks, Northrup likes to create an exposure for as long as five to 10 seconds, timing the shot by starting right before the incendiary explodes. The longer your shutter is open, the more light gets exposed to the photo sensor. So, like the flash, be sure to turn this setting off. As a result, when the camera captures the multiple exposures to blend the fireworks together into one HDR image, they won’t match up. A way to shoot photos using multiple exposures that helps to reduce contrast (and dark, night shots are full of contrast) HDR is bad for fireworks because they’re a moving, morphing subject. But in this instance, it’s going to trip up your shot, says Northrup. HDR, or high dynamic range, seems like it would be a good idea for capturing fireworks’ rich color. So, in that case, try to get their faces lit with a light that’s behind you (and most importantly, the camera). “Maybe you actually want to light people up in the foreground, but if you do that, it’s going to under-expose the shot.

#Prolevel fireworks how to#

“The flash is only going to illuminate things that are within five to 10 feet of you,” says Tony Northrup, a Waterford, Conn.-based photographer and author of How to Create Stunning Digital Photography.

Your smartphone will automatically turn the flash on, because - in case you didn’t notice - you’re standing there in the dark. Here’s how to take great fireworks photos with just your smartphone: