Fourth of July must have photos and tips – Concordia, Missouri Photographer

The Fourth of July is quickly approaching. I love fireworks, and I LOVE taking photos of them. Especially sparklers. 🙂 There are so many fun things you can do! Below you’ll find my list of must haves, some tips, and a couple of how-to’s for those that shoot in manual mode.

My list of my have images from the Fourth

• Ol’ glory (the flag)
• Some red white and blue decorations
• Pool time
• Kiddos playing with snap dragons, smoke bombs, and black snakes
• Sparkler writing or swirls
• The big fireworks show
• Sweet treats
• Stars and Stripes
• Family and friends
• Family Traditions
• Watermelon
• BBQ/Grilling

Tips for shooting in low light

Shooting in low light can be tricky. The order of priorities should go focus/aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Because if your aperture is closed down to get a few things in focus, then your shutter speed needs to also be fast enough that the camera shake isn’t going to make the image blurry, then you should set your ISO. I’d rather have a little grain in a sharp photo than a blurry bright photo. Just remember to take your time and to take a few practice photos before trying to capture your desired image.

Catching the big fireworks in the sky

I know this photo isn’t of a big firework in the sky, but I applied the same general concept. Your ISO will need to be at 400, aperture around 2 – 2.8, and your shutter speed at least twice that of your lens to avoid shake. This will provide a stop action of the fireworks in they sky. If you want the streaks through the air, that will be similar to the sparkler swirl below, and you will need a tripod. 🙂

 Create a sparkler swirl or write with sparklers

The trick to the swirl or writing with sparklers is using a tripod. A tripod is needed because the exposure is so long that if you just hold the camera, the whole image will be blurry. For the photo below, the camera was on a tripod, I locked in the focus, set my exposure at 400 ISO, aperture 2.8 and the shutter speed was for 8 seconds. Not 1/8 of a second; 8 seconds long. That gives someone (in this case Justin) time to run around the couple to get the swirl.

Want to get in touch?

If you’d like to book your session or wedding, you can contact me at kelsey(at)kelseyalumbaugh(dot)com. Check out my Instagram @kelseyalumbaugh ! I’ve been working curating my feed, so let me know if you see the pattern! And like me on Facebook to see the latest blog posts and wedding updates. 🙂 If you’re curious about the investment, you can check that info out here, but please feel free to reach out so I can better address your photography needs.

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