How can I minimize smoke when photographing fireworks?

You usually can’t make fireworks completely “smokeless” in-camera, but you can reduce the effect.

A common technique is the black hat trick: use a long exposure, keep the lens covered with a black hat or card while nothing important is happening, then uncover it only for the bursts you want to record. This helps avoid recording the launch and some of the accumulating smoke between bursts.

Position also matters. Don’t shoot from behind the fireworks plume, and if possible avoid being directly to the side where smoke may drift across your frame. A higher vantage point can help if it gives you a clearer line of sight above some of the smoke.

Filters generally won’t remove smoke. Exposure changes alone also won’t eliminate it once it’s lit by the fireworks.

If you need to remove smoke more completely, post-processing is the main option. Since the fireworks are much brighter than the smoky background, you can darken midtones and shadows—such as with a tone curve—so the dimmer smoke falls closer to black while the bright bursts remain visible.