How to Photograph Fireworks With Your Smartphone

Smartphone cameras have improved by leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. But don't expect them to capture fireworks photos that wow you like a long-exposure image from a big camera. Even so, computational features can help.

If you have a recent flagship smartphone or even one that's a few years old, you have a camera in your pocket that, minus a truly capable zoom, competes with most point-and-shoot cameras. But fireworks are tough for phones. Their cameras work best for quick shots in low light because you can't typically do things like stop down the aperture. That puts the long exposure method I recommend later for SLRs and mirrorless cameras out of the picture.

So, vary your technique a bit. Enable HDR on your phone if you can and take advantage of specialized low-light modes (like Google's Night Sight or Apple's Night mode) to get more of a burst in one image. iPhone users should turn on Live Photos, too. If you have manual shooting controls, set the ISO to the lowest setting and the shutter speed to something short enough to handhold. You can extend this range a bit by adding a smartphone gimbal.

You need to play around with these settings based on the type of phone you have but start at 1/60-second and experiment until you get a dark sky and colorful fireworks bursts. Speaking of bursts, if your phone has a burst shooting mode, use it—it's tough to predict the perfect moment without multi-second exposures. With some care, practice, and probably a little editing, you can likely get something pleasing.