I am a professional photographer: Here is how to get the best fireworks pictures on your phone

Whether you take pictures on July 4, New Year or for the other celebration, fireworks are always great opportunities for photos. The bright lights and vibrant colors incredibly contrasts with the dark night sky, making your pictures look beautifully exciting with a little effort on your part.

While taking pictures at night it was something you needed for a large DSLR for it, the best camera phones today, including iPhone 16 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra, are able to take amazing pictures after dark. Even budget options such as Pixel 9A or nothing can phone 3A can take great looks at night.

So, whether you refer to the explosive sky with your phone or a camera without a mirror, here are the most important advice as a professional photographer on how to take pictures of fireworks that are sure to think about your friends.

Trick

With most fireworks screens at night, you may need to use a night mode to take a bright photo. Although some phones, such as iPhone 16 Pro, have night modes that arrive automatically when you discover that they are dark enough, other phones may have a dedicated placement to take pictures at night. Before heading to your offer, be sure to know how to turn on the night mode on your phone.

Exposure

Night mode is likely to be the easiest way to get good -looking results with a little effort, but it is not guaranteed. Its main problem is that it will try to make the entire scene brighter, and it may not look great – that dark sky must remain dark until fireworks are highlighted.

If you find night mode clips look a bit faded, try clicking on an area of ​​the image to lock exposure, then use the scroll tape to darken the image until you think it looks good. By locking exposure like this, it will stop his re -set to the default after taking each photo. If your phone has a professional position, you can likely set a darker point.

Be creative with manual controls

Most phones should be able to disrupt a wonderful -looking image with a little extra voltage on your part, but sometimes it is useful to be a little creative with your camera settings. One of my favorite tricks for fireworks is the use of long exposure – perhaps long – which converts clear fireworks into light lines in the sky. It is a completely different look, but I really enjoy the abstract impression that gives it.

Some cameras contain supportive modes that give you manually control of the shutter speed, but there are many camera applications for both iOS and Android that will give you this job. My suggestion? Play with your settings and see what you do for your photos when you press the shutter button – you may be surprised by the amount you like about the effect.

Keep

Keeping your phone is very important if you want a sharp image, even when using the night mode. Simply keep it firmly, all the difference can occur. Hold your phone with my hands and keep the elbows in your pulse to give you a strong and stable position. Try to take multiple photos every time because it will increase the chances that one of them will be gentle and sharp.

Although it is not always comfortable, if you can put your phone or camera on a tribod, you will appreciate the extra effort that it took to withdraw this additional equipment.

Think of composition

While taking a photo of the fireworks themselves in the sky, it may look very great, you can make your image more impressive by thinking about the formation inside the shot. Try to include the front details, like others who reveal on the screen, interesting buildings or food situations. By including the ground features, it gives the context of the size to the upper fireworks, which makes it appear larger and greater in comparison.

Raw shooting, later released

Although your phone may pick up a great -look shot with clicking only for the shutter button, I often find that some processing after processing in applications such as Google Cold or Adobe Lightroom spoke all the difference. On my iPhone 16 Pro, I will shoot Proraw, giving me deeper control of colors and contrast in my image later.

I will often set the white color balance to suit the scene, increase contrast, and perhaps even enter some clarity in the image that can really help those bright details in the sky more. There is no correct or wrong way to edit a picture, so my best advice is to spend time playing with skis in your favorite editing application and knowing what you can reach.