How to shoot Diwali, the festival of light

1. Create ambience with light

Diwali is all about capturing light and dark. Start the day by shooting the lighting of the diyas (clay lamps), says Hetal. “Usually, you light a path outside your house, which invites goodness and prosperity into your household. This is key to document.”

2. Capture food and clothes 

You’ll want to capture all the delicious food being prepared before it’s all eaten! Shoot close-up details of the dishes and garnishes. “Our clothes are always so vibrant, so it’s vital to capture the small details here, too,” says Hetal. “Plus, capturing prayers at some point of the day is also important, especially if visiting a temple, but respectfulness is key here.”

3. Shoot with wide aperture 

Shoot wide for as much natural light as possible and to create ambience (especially since Diwali falls in autumn). “I prefer wide aperture (normally f/4 but also f/2.8), then I go down on shutter speed because most of my subjects are objects. But if I’m capturing people I don’t compromise on shutter speed. I’ll bump my ISO up.”

4. Don’t be afraid to be minimalist 

“I tend to look for rule of thirds when I shoot, and I do shoot with some negative space around the subject,” says Hetal. “I’m always drawn to detail, and I don’t want to overcrowd the picture and distract from what I’m trying to communicate. During Diwali, there’s so much colour, food and light, you don’t want to get lost trying to capture everything. Sometimes it’s best to be minimalistic.”

5. Shoot mirrorless for exceptional low-light performance 

“The best part about the Nikon Z 7II is the ability to shoot in low light flawlessly. Now I feel limitless in my ability to capture an image. I can go very low shutter speeds handheld, but at the same time, I can bump up my ISO to a great degree without affecting the quality of the picture, which is absolutely phenomenal.”

6. Zooms offer greatest versatility 

Diwali is all about capturing candid moments and a variety of celebrations. For greatest flexibilty, shoot with zooms. Hetal’s go-to zoom is the NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S, but she also uses the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S – perfect for capturing detail that’s really sharp. She uses her NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S, NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S and NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2 for portraiture shoots.

7. End the day with a bang! 

You can’t complete Diwali celebrations without fireworks. For best results, use a shutter speed of around 1/10 sec (to freeze the motion of the fireworks but also capture their light), set the camera to a low ISO, such as 200, and try an aperture of f/11 to begin with.

You can view more of Hetal’s work here.