Photographing Fireworks and Creating a Stop-Motion Fireworks
Slide Show in ProShow Gold

Overview

Each year, millions of people across the nation gather to watch the grand spectacle of a fireworks display. This Fourth of July, capture the memories of the holiday by photographing the event and creating a unique stop-motion fireworks slide show.

There are some important things to know before you shoot. Photographing fireworks can be tricky because of the nature of the subject. Fireworks look best when they have fully exploded and you can see the streams of light and the full burst caused by the explosion. Capturing a photo of this event requires a long exposure and a steady camera.

Location, Location, Location
Be sure that you have a clear view of the fireworks show and you can get a full explosion in your camera's viewfinder. Allow for extra space around the explosion to account for wind or extra-large explosions. If you can, include some background scenery such as buildings, trees or a body of water, for a sense of size and perspective. You should aim your lens in the direction of the show. Try not to get too many different angles of the show; you are better off sticking to one or two positions since everything happens to fast. Your stop-motion slide show will also look better if most of your shots are taken at the same exact angle.
Click here to watch the slide show.

Setting Up Your Camera

You will need a digital camera that allows you to manually set shutter speeds, a sturdy tripod and a remote trigger. For a nice clean shot, set your ISO to 100 and set your aperture to an f8 or f9. Fireworks emit a very high level of light against a dark backdrop so these settings will ensure you don't overexpose your images and your sky looks dark in contrast to the fireworks.

Ready, Set, Shoot

Since a single firework can take quite some time to fully explode, you will need to anticipate your shot and use a long shutter speed. Be careful not to bump your camera while taking a shot; this will result in a blurry photo. The use of a tripod and a remote trigger will eliminate camera shake. Once you hear the boom indicating the firework has been launched, use the remote trigger to begin your exposure. Your camera will be taking a time-lapsed shot of the exploding scene. This allows you to get a great image with bright colors and good movement.

Experiment with longer and shorter shutter speeds to see what works best for you. This will really depend on the look you are trying to achieve in your fireworks photos. In general, 3 to 5 seconds is the standard for capturing a good fireworks image.

For the purposes of the stop-motion slide show, you will want to continuously fire off shots as fast as your camera can process them. This allows you to capture a series of important scenes during the explosion and delivery of a firework.

Creating a Stop-Motion Fireworks Show

Depending upon the length of the fireworks display, you may end up with hundreds of images! Is each one a winner? No, but by creating a slide show of the fireworks, you can utilize almost every shot you took to create an impressive, stop-motion slide show.

To begin, open ProShow Gold and import all your fireworks photos. Drag and drop them onto the Slide List. Be sure that you are adding the photos in the order that they were taken. This is the key to creating a stop-motion effect for your show.

Use the Lightbox View to browse through your photos. Feel free to weed out any overly blurry shots or shots that didn't turn out as well as you wanted. Be sure that you keep enough of a sequence going so that you can create a time-lapsed animation.

Timing and Playback
Set all the slide times to 0.3 seconds. Use the AB Crossfade transition between all slides and make all transitions last 0.3 seconds. Since you have a large number of slides to work with, you can right-click and select all slides in your show, set the timing for one, then hit Enter. This will change all the slide times and transition times at once.
Now, view your slide show and adjust the timing and speed, if necessary. Add a Title Slide with captions and effects. You can also include sound effects, like exploding fireworks, to give your show more drama. Then, easily add a soundtrack to play while your photos are displayed.

Click to enlarge

Watch a Completed Fireworks Slide Show

Click here for a completed fireworks slide show and more ideas for how to customize your own stop-motion show!

Download a Free Trial of ProShow Gold 3.0

You can download a free trial of ProShow Gold 3.0. Here is a link: http://www.photodex.com/downloads/go_proshowgold

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Photographing Fireworks and Creating a Stop-Motion Fireworks Slide Show in ProShow Gold