Fireworks aren’t just for the Fourth of July! You’ll find them regularly at theme parks, sporting events, and maybe more surprisingly, at weddings. For the latter, fireworks offer photographers a wonderful opportunity to capture epic couples portraits with a truly unique backdrop. Of course, if you’re not familiar with how to photograph fireworks, there are some basic tips you’ll want to keep in mind, all on top of what it already takes to create incredible couples portraits. In this article, we’ve put together a list of tips and ideas for how to capture fireworks during a couples session in a way that will give your photos all the flash and excitement of a grand finale.

All of the images in this article are provided by the photographers at Wedding Maps and used with their permission.

How to Photograph Fireworks for Couples Portraits

If you consider how long, or rather how short the window of time is for photographing fireworks (typically 5-8 minutes, if not shorter), you can see that you’ll have to work efficiently to get set up and capture your portraits. The best way to make it happen is to plan ahead and know exactly where you need to be and what you need to do when the time comes. To make sure you’re ready, follow these tips.

Find the Best Location

If you’re photographing a wedding that includes fireworks on the timeline, you’ll want to find out as soon as possible where the fireworks will appear so that you can scout locations for the best angle. Go-to resources for getting this information include the couple, the planner, and even the venue.

Of course, in terms of finding the “best” angle, it will vary based on what you’re looking for. For example, you might look for a wide-open area if you want to capture an epic shot of fireworks filling the sky while your couple looks on in the frame. On the other hand, you might also look for a spot with foreground elements like trees or buildings that you can use to help frame the shot. Composition is key to successfully capturing fireworks for couples portraits, so make sure you check scouting off of your to-do list.

Maximize Dynamic Range with RAW Files and Exposure Settings

Photographing fireworks brings with it the demand of capturing photos in a challenging lighting situation. The ambient light is going to be dark while the fireworks themselves can potentially blow out your highlights, depending on your exposure settings. For that reason, and to ensure you have the best chance possible of retaining details in your portraits, it’s imperative that you capture RAW files and dial in your exposure settings to maximize dynamic range.

Raw Files vs. JPEG

RAW files will give you more flexibility when it comes to recovering details in the shadows and highlights during post-production. The dynamic range of the details you capture will be significantly reduced if you opt for compressed JPEG files rather than RAW files.

Exposure Settings

Here’s a starting point that you can use to set your exposure when photographing fireworks for couples portraits.

• Aperture: f8
• Shutter Speed: 5-10 seconds (using a tripod is highly recommended)
• ISO: 200 (adjust ISO to increase or decrease the brightness)

Also, be sure to review your camera’s histogram to see where the data is being represented on the graph. You don’t want the data to hit too heavily on the right side, which would mean that you’re blowing out your highlights and losing details in the fireworks. At the same time, you don’t want to go too far the other way either.

Manage White Balance

When it comes to setting your white balance for photographing fireworks, Tungsten is a great place to start. If you’re adding light to the couple via flash or constant light, you can include a CTO (color temperature orange) gel to the light source and set your white balance to somewhere around 3200 Kelvin. Adjust as needed to match your vision of what the portraits should look like.

Choose the “Right” Lens

The lens you use to photograph fireworks for couples portraits will depend on a couple of things. First, the field of view you want to include for your composition will dictate whether you shoot wide or tight. Keep in mind that these are couples portraits, so using a zoom lens to capture a wide angle shot will make it virtually impossible to communicate with your couple. The space you’re in might also be limited, making a zoom lens a non-option. If you opt for a tighter shot, however, a zoom lens will do a great job of compressing the scene and making the fireworks appear larger in the frame. Beyond that, using a wide-angle lens will make it easier to capture epic shots of the couple and all of the fireworks in their grandeur. Remember, it’s okay to shoot wide and crop the shot a bit during post, if necessary.

Try a Long Exposure

You’ll likely need to set your shutter speed to a slower setting in order to capture better firework portraits. The longer the exposure, the more fireworks you’ll see. Long exposures, which might fall somewhere between 5-10 seconds, also give the fireworks motion as the light traces a path across the sky. Shorter exposures, somewhere in the 2-5 second range, will reveal less detail in the fireworks.

Regardless, you’ll need to use a tripod to minimize camera shake while capturing portraits with long exposures. It can also help to use a cable, remote control button, or delay timer (a two-second delay should suffice) to press the shutter button and further eliminate any unwanted motion.

Light Your Subjects

Typically, when photographing fireworks, we don’t need to worry much about lighting any subjects in the frame. In fact, most of the focus usually falls on the fireworks and subjects are either left in the dark or cropped out completely. For couples portraits with fireworks, however, that is not the case. The way we light our subjects should be intentional and well-executed. The good news is, when time permits, you can set up your shot and dial in your flash power and exposure settings before the fireworks begin.

To start, you will light the couple the way you would even if fireworks were not part of the equation. Dial in your flash power and exposure settings to get the balance you need between flash and ambient lighting. Set the light source off to the side at roughly a 45-degree angle (relative to the couple and the camera), and place it at a somewhat top-down angle facing the couple. You can add a backlight to further define your subjects, or consider using a snoot or grid to control light spill and focus the light directly (or exclusively) on the couple. The particular details of your setup will depend on your own creative direction.

Use Manual Focus

Fireworks can cause havoc on autofocus, so make sure you set your lens to manual focus. If your camera has live view, use that dial to focus on the couple (you can use autofocus for this before the fireworks start) and then double check that manual focus is selected and leave it there.

Create a Composite

You always have the option to create a composite when you photograph fireworks for couples portraits. If you choose this route, you’ll definitely want to use a tripod. The trick here is to first capture a solid portrait of your couple, in which they’re perfectly lit and posed. Then, you can capture several separate photos of the fireworks.

Lightroom

After the shoot, when you’re ready to create the composite, start in Lightroom (or whatever photo editing software that you prefer). Be sure to edit the batch of photos that you plan to use for the composite in the same way so that they are consistent. To do this quickly and easily, edit the photo with the couple first, and then run a batch edit to apply the changes you’ve made to the remaining photos.

Photoshop

Next, move the photos into Photoshop and stack them in a single tab so that you can combine them. Set the blend mode to “Lighten” in order to reveal the brightest parts (the fireworks) of the top layers. From here, just create masks to edit out the parts of each layer that you don’t want to keep.

How to Photograph Sparklers

While not technically “fireworks,” sparklers show up often at weddings, especially as part of a grand exit. For that reason, and because they fall under the umbrella, we’ve included a few basic tips for photographing sparklers as part of a couples session.

Use Big Sparklers

Hopefully, if the bride and groom haven’t already purchased sparklers for their wedding photos, you can recommend that they go with the 36-inch sparklers instead of the 10-inch sparklers. The longer sparklers will give you more time to pose everyone and capture additional photos.

Boost ISO and Wide Aperture

As a light source, sparklers don’t offer too much. For this reason, you can choose to add a light source or dial in the appropriate settings to capture the photos in dim lighting. It also matters whether or not your subjects are moving or standing still. Either way, you’ll want to boost your ISO and go with a wider aperture to start off with a brighter exposure.

Here are some basic settings you can use as a reference when determining the best exposure for your situation.

Moving Subjects

• Shutter Speed: 1/125, Aperture: f/2.8, ISO 3200, Aperture: F2.8, Shutter Speed: 1/125.

Static Subjects

Lower your shutter speeds and adjust the other exposure settings accordingly.

Have a Safety Bucket Handy

When handling sparklers, you’re handling fire. After you capture the shots, you’ll need a safe place to put the sparklers. For this, have a good size bucket of water nearby. Problem solved.

Conclusion + More Inspiration

We hope you found these tips on how to photograph fireworks (and sparklers) for couples portraits helpful. Check out the images below for more inspiration that you can draw from when it comes time to photograph your own couples portraits under a sky full of fireworks.