Photographing fireworks made simple for beginners
I recently found myself thinking about how my photography has changed the way I see the world — and fireworks are a perfect example.
I’ve never liked them. As a kid, I hated the noise and the chaos. As an adult, they felt like an expensive and pointless spectacle. But when I picked up a camera, something changed. Trying to photograph fireworks turned them into something else entirely: an opportunity to learn, experiment, and create images that I really enjoyed.
Over the past year, I’ve photographed fireworks four or five times, and every time I’ve come away with shots that felt like a step forward in my growth as a photographer.
Learning that it’s simpler than it looks
When you’re new to photography, photographing fireworks can look daunting. Long exposures, manual focus, timing your shots — it seems complicated. But once you understand the basics, it becomes surprisingly simple.
The key is to master a few settings and to use a tripod. Once you’ve done that, you can reproduce good results every time. And while you can invest in a fancy tripod, you don’t need to spend a lot when starting out — my first tripod cost just 450 THB (about 14 USD), and it’s more than capable of holding my Canon 90D steady.
Go-to camera settings for photographing fireworks
Here are the exact settings I use on my Canon 90D with an 18–135mm lens.
Shutter speed: 4.0 seconds
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO: 100
Mode: Manual
Focus: Manual
Image stabilisation: Off
Timer: 2 seconds (to avoid camera shake)
I don’t have a remote shutter release, so I rely on the two-second timer to steady the camera after pressing the shutter button. For a slightly different effect, you can adjust the shutter speed to five seconds or even slightly less, but I’ve found four seconds gives me consistently good results.
What I’ve learned
Every time I’ve photographed fireworks, I’ve been reminded how important it is to simply get out and try. Once you’ve unlocked those basic settings, it feels like a whole new part of photography opens up.
It’s not about capturing the perfect frame every time (because I hardly ever do that!); it’s about enjoying the process and appreciating the unique perspective a camera can give you — even on something you once thought you hated.
As with everything I share on this blog, these aren’t expert tips or strict rules — they’re just my experiences as a beginner learning to see the world differently through a lens.
