Diwali, the festival of lights bring in a wide range of opportunities for photographers. You can shoot macros, shoot long exposure, shoot candid & much more. However one needs right techniques to make good shots considering the conditions are demanding & even dangerous during the festive season. Here are some of my recommendations to come back home this diwali with a memory card full of beautiful photographs.

# You need to have a sturdy tripod. Not the most expensive a cheap one will do too. Depending on your camera & your lens, the tripod must be reasonably weighted. Tripod will come useful during night(low light) & in case of long exposure shots of fireworks.

# Wear comfortable non-synthetic clothes. This would ensure they don’t catch fire easily. Always have presence of mind when you’re shooting & there are people around you who are bursting firecrackers. A rouge firecracker may damage your gear or worse still cause harm to you. If possible, take someone with you to keep a tab on your back. Also have a bottle of water or two handy & a basic first aid kit in case of emergency.

# A longer lens would be better to capture fireworks from a distant. This would ensure minimal risk of firecrackers while shooting.

# Switch the lens to manual focus & set a relatively narrow aperture during low light to get properly focused shots.

# Shoot on vibrant colour mode on your Canon Powershot camera or increase saturation in Picture Styles on Canon DSLR camera to boost up the colours in your shot. Diwali & Colours go hand in hand & would definitely make for good photographs.

# Use a lens hood while you shoot. Due to stray ambient light during diwali, you don’t want flaring in your shots.

# Use a cable release or set the camera on self-timer when taking long exposure shots of fireworks. If you own a DSLR, you should even lock the mirror to prevent any shake.

# Finally, Get up early & stay up early on the first day of Diwali, You don’t want to miss any of the fun, do you? Never-mind, if your batteries do not last the entire day, just have fun. When you’re having fun, good photographs are bound to come.

I hope these tips help you during this festive season to capture good photographs. Wish you a happy & safe Diwali. 🙂