The purpose of this study is to determine the performance of a portable large-scale shadowgraph system for use in hydrogen combustion experiments. Previous large-scale shadowgraph and schlieren implementations have often been limited to background-oriented techniques which are subject to noise. The system built is based on a large-scale shadowgraph technique, developed by Settles, which allows for noise-free visualization. We performed jet release, unconfined flame and detonation experiments in hydrogen mixtures. Shadowgrams taken were compared to a Z-schlieren system. Large-scale shadowgraphy offered high-quality visualization of hydrogen explosion phenomenon. Crown Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.