How to photograph a fire show? That is the question I wish I asked myself before facing one with the camera this weekend. As it was, I went on trial and error. I didn’t know fire would be present and I’ve never seen a fire show quite like this one before. A fantastic, magical show by Aurora at Norrviken gardens in South Sweden.

I left the place with a whole bunch of good images and a disturbing number of such that… may easily be classified as trash. But I also left it wiser 😉 I dare say I’ll produce a crushing majority of stunning shots whenever I get the chance to see this thing again!

General points to take away for moving fire photos at night:

• open diaphragm – the camera will already be pushed to the limits so if you do want to see any details other than the mail source of light this should be a good idea
• use a tripod and a remote shutter
• prepare to test various exposure times

sharp pictures of the fire or other moving elements

• auto ISO
• fast shutter speeds – at least 1/250

blurry pics of sparks or light trails

• ISO manual, keep it low
• shutter speeds under 1/100

Last but not least, DO some noise reduction in post-processing.

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