The end of the year is already knocking on the door. Whatever this year has been, you can count on one thing every year – New Year's celebrations and a volley of colorful fireworks that start immediately at the stroke of midnight. If you would like to capture the moment and have such a beautiful memory, then this article is just for you. Let's talk about how to take the best possible photos of New Year's Eve fireworks with the help of an iPhone.
Free up storage space
Even before you jump into shooting fireworks, it is necessary that you free up some storage space. Owners of newer Apple phones probably won't have a problem with storage space, but if you have an older iPhone with, for example, 16GB or 32GB of storage, you certainly know that it's not quite enough these days. To free up storage space, just go to Settings → General → Storage: iPhone. Here you can view a storage usage graph with information about which apps are taking up the most space. You can therefore delete applications, or only their data. In addition, you can of course free up space by deleting old photos and videos. See the article below for more tips.
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Don't forget a tripod and headphones (or Apple Watch)
If you want to achieve the best possible results that are worth it, you simply cannot do without a tripod. The tripod is literally a fundamental pillar when it comes to photographing New Year's fireworks, which you should not forget at any cost, otherwise you will regret it. This accessory will help you to anchor the phone in a stable position and ensure that it does not move even an inch during the photo shoot itself. Otherwise, the exposure could change and the results would not be worth it. But if you would like to take pictures without a tripod, you will need an extremely stable position.
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Along with the tripod, you should also bring headphones with a controller, if necessary Apple Watch. Taking a photo on an Apple phone is traditionally done by tapping the shutter button on the display or pressing the volume button - in both of these cases, however, you touch the iPhone, causing it to shake. Using EarPods with a controller, you can simply press the volume button on the controller to take photos. If necessary, it is of course possible to use the application Camera on Apple Watch, through which it is also possible to take photos remotely.
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Set up the camera
If you are going to use the native Camera app to take photos of fireworks, you must set it up correctly. Specifically, you need to turn off automatic exposure and focus, i.e. AE/AF, which you achieve in the same way as if you wanted to focus on an object, but you have to hold your finger on the display for a while, until it appears at the top AE/AF OFF. Subsequently, it is still necessary to manually reduce the exposure, by swiping your finger from top to bottom. Reduce the exposure so that you get rid of any light noise, but at the same time, you must not reduce it so much that you can see anything in the image afterwards.
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Setting the flash and other functions
Do you use the automatic flash function when taking pictures? If so, turn it off right away. In the dark, the iPhone would automatically activate the flash, which would result in the complete deterioration of the photos themselves, which would no longer be saved by a tripod or our other tips. This applies all the more in cases where the flash "leans" into, for example, smoke from pyrotechnics. Likewise, you should forget about using digital zoom, because of which there is a rather strong reduction in quality. However, optical zoom does not matter in this case.
Use the sequence
After completing the aforementioned settings and preparing the tripod, all you have to do is wait for the moment when the New Year's fireworks will begin. In such a case, however, it is worth mentioning one more tip. Since the fireworks go off for a long time, constantly tapping the trigger icon can be quite tiring and even annoying, while at the same time you can move around the scene more easily. That's exactly why it's good to bet on Sequence mode, which takes picture after picture. In that case, it's enough hold the icon and let go only at the moment when the whole show is over. Alternatively, just hold the controller on the EarPods.
However, it is a little different for iPhones 11 and newer, where you can start QuickTake video recording by holding your finger on the shutter icon. For sequence mode you need a button press and swipe left, which will start shooting in burst mode. If you don't often take photos in this way, we recommend that you practice the movement in advance so that you don't fail at the last point during the event itself.
