Shutter Speed

Firework Photos

Photographing fireworks can be one of the most visually rewarding forms of night photography, offering a unique blend of color, motion, and light that challenges both technical skill and creative vision. Unlike typical snapshots, fireworks photography requires an understanding of long exposure, timing, and environmental awareness.

All the photos in this post were taken by me. They are of the Wills Park, Alpharetta, Georgia July 4, 2025, Firework display. The horizontal black lines, through all the photos are because we set up behind a telephone pole.

Meter Modes

It is very important to know about metering, as well as the role of each metering mode.

Camera metering modes are an essential aspect of photography, helping photographers achieve proper exposure in their images by determining how the camera measures light and sets the appropriate combination of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO sensitivity.

Aperture

Aperture has several effects on your photographs. Perhaps the most obvious is the brightness, or exposure, of your images.

In photography, “Aperture” refers to the opening in a camera lens that controls the amount of light entering the camera and hitting the camera’s sensor or film. It is one of the three primary factors that influence exposure, along with shutter speed and ISO sensitivity.

In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light (that is, when the camera’s shutter is open) when taking a photograph.

Shutter speed is a fundamental concept in photography that refers to the amount of time the camera’s shutter remains open, allowing light to pass through the lens and strike the camera’s sensor or film. It plays a crucial role in controlling the exposure of an image and capturing various creative effects. Understanding shutter speed is essential for photographers to achieve the desired results in different shooting conditions.

Camera ISO Settings

Camera ISO is a critical setting, but it is NOT part of exposure

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a standardization system that defines the sensitivity of film and digital camera sensors to light. In the film era, ISO was referred to as ASA (American Standards Association) and DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung).