Struggling with blurry fireworks photos? Here’s how to photograph fireworks without blur. Learn our easy pro tips and camera hacks for breathtaking results, and explore lens recommendations for better photos.
Introduction:
Do you know that the hashtag #fireworks on Instagram was used more than 800,000 times this year and is pulling in millions of dollars in the industry, indicating it is one of the most popular night photography niches? However, many people who are just trying out such photography suffer from misfocused and blurred shots. We are here to explain how to photograph fireworks without such issues and get professional results as soon as possible.
Why Do Fireworks Photos Blur?
The fireworks you are trying to capture appear at brief intervals and are bright. To capture such a subject, including their trails and light arcs, a photographer would need exposure times of 1 to 10 seconds (even more in some cases), but moving your camera between these times introduces shakes, leading to blurs.
Even if your camera is not shaking, the fireworks’ light streaks themselves are moving, and the pictures can still come out blurred if the exposure is too long or poorly timed. In these cases, the trails will be an indistinct blob or, in standard terms, blurred. Other problems can also occur, including difficulty focusing in the dark due to the camera lens and body, exposure mistakes, and optical errors due to lens hardness.
How to Photograph Fireworks like a Pro?
1. Tune your camera settings.
To avoid blurs, you need to get used to a manual mode. In other words, you have to take full control over shutter, aperture, and ISO. Next, switch your ISO as low as possible (somewhere between 100 and 400), as a low ISO helps reduce noise in nighttime photos. This is where your camera sensor size is also going to matter.
Next, to cover the burst distances, use an aperture between f/5.6 and f/11 (or a T equivalent for anamorphic lenses). In this range, f/8 is usually a sweet spot for fireworks photography at night. For white balance, switch off auto white balance, too, and select “Daylight” mode. Or you can use a fixed Kelvin around 4000 to 5500K, depending on how neutral or warm you want your burst colors.
2. Framing Strategies
Once you have confidence in your settings, the next step is to make your composition proper. To get the best shots, allow extra sky above the terrain so the camera bursts don’t cut off, resulting in leaving headroom. Shooting only the fireworks produces dull shots; instead, add silhouette elements and other small details from the foreground.
Elements like buildings, landmarks, bridges, trees, leading roads, and reflections in water add more detail to the shot and help anchor the spectacle. Ultimately, use manual focus to fine-tune and frame for wide scenes or selective bursts using zoom.
3. Turn off Stabilization
Once all this is set, disable stabilization to avoid unintended corrections that can blur your shot. Instead, use a professional tripod with a rigid center column for proper, stable shots. Some tripods allow you to mount without using the center column, so you reduce flex when using them. You can also use a mirror lock-up or a 2-second delay on your camera to avoid shakes.
4. Invest in Proper Gear
Of course, you need a high-quality camera tripod for such shots, but you also need a capable camera that can handle good light photography. Typically, both full-frame mirrorless cameras and DSLRs can bring the results needed for shooting fireworks. Cameras like the Nikon D850 and Canon EOS R6 are great candidates for capturing crisp photos of such moving streaks of light.
Best Lens for Firework Photos 2025
The camera lens is the most important aspect of fireworks photography, as it deals with light coming from a moving object at night, and how well it directs the light to the subject will dictate the final results. Consider the SIRUI Saturn 35/50/75mm Full-frame Carbon Fiber Anamorphic Lens for such photos, which features a T2.9 aperture that can collect ample light from these fireworks and maintain depth of field with impressive sharpness.
Designed as an anamorphic lens, this lens renders a 1.6x squeeze factor, added with cinematic flares, which adds more detail to your firework shots and an artistic field with a stylish halo around bursts. The lens is compact and uses a carbon fiber shell, making shooting much more convenient.
Wrapping Up:
As we explained how to photograph fireworks, it can be concluded that for high-quality photos in this niche, a capable camera and a professional tripod are required, along with knowledge of manual shooting. The SIRUI Saturn lens kit features a T2.9 aperture, which allows for high light gathering, and its anamorphic optics give your shots a special artistic feel that ordinary lenses can’t deliver.
