Most people like to play with fireworks in one way or another. Many of my friends and I got involved in learning and playing with photography long before we found a way to generate income from our industry. In this case either lighting off fireworks or photographing the moving, colorful, ever changing display of light in the recently turned black skies, gives us a canvas in which we can play in order to create a new way of photographing an old friend. We can start with a new canvas anytime that we want.
How many exposures will I catch on one frame? How will I compose the frame, horizontally or vertical? What lens? What focal length? Where will I focus?
I like to change lenses from time to time in order to create a new look. In these images that I am sharing with you today, I’d like to show you how I took liberties with how tightly I would compose an image, and the different depths of the image that I would choose to photograph.
I captured these images on a EOS 5D Mark III body along with the EF 70-200 mm f/2.8 L IS lens, written to Delkin Devices digital media, 128 GB CF card. My Canon was mounted a top a ReallyRightStuff Carbon Fiber TVC-34 tripod and their BH-55 ballhead in order to capture these 12-15 second exposures.
I really enjoy the ability to go out with a favorite lens looking to see how I can capture imagery of the colored trails that hang in front of us for a few seconds to watch or capture. This evening I chose to stay with the 70-200mm for all of my exposures.
I played with the focus depth on these images by changing the focus during the exposure creating a very dimensional representation. These images were all created by in-camera techniques only and are not combined in any way in post processing, they are each one exposure, created in-camera.
Everytime that I go out to make some new photographs, I spend time thinking about what I can do differently this year. I hope that you might try and pre-visualize what you want your images to look like before you ever head out to go capture them. It is a strange thought to most people but that effort you invest in yourself should yield some pretty nice images that do not look anything like previous years images.
You can find many more fireworks displays before summer is over to play with. Please try a few minutes thinking about what you are going to do once you get out there with your camera. Enjoy those summer nights playing. Create some magnificent images!
Thank you for posting these Ken – they are truly inspirational. I love the use of multiple focus points to create depth.
Very creative use of fireworks and tight framing, love the results.
Very cool indeed. I love the combination of in-focus and out of focus fireworks in the same frame. Where the focused manually, auto-focused, or a combination of both?
Ken Sklute has been honored by much of the leading photographic manufacturers as an ambassador or representative highlighting his knowledge and photographic expertise. Ken has enjoyed a diverse career photographing landscapes, professional sports, and people.
Phone: (602) 738-0601
Email: ken@serendipityvisuals.com
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