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ITAP of Fireworks and refocused quickly during an explosion (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by sweatysocks

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[–]sweatysocks[S] 108 points109 points ago

I have a few others posted here as well. I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout... didn't expect it to look like this at all

EDIT: Here are all of the high resolution photos!

[–]cmmoyer 74 points75 points ago

I did these as well for the 4th. This was my best result. It has false color though and has been cleaned up signifigantly, but I was very pleased with the effect in general. http://i.imgur.com/54RCX.jpg

[–]sweatysocks[S] 19 points20 points ago

That's an awesome effect! Looks like water exploding from nothing... the aquatic big bang

[–]EyewitBass 6 points7 points ago

I saved both this one and the green one from you for desktop backgrounds :) Totally awesome.

[–]sweatysocks[S] 5 points6 points ago

Here are all of the high resolution photos!

[–]EyewitBass 0 points1 point ago

Thank you sir!!! :)

[–]QuinguaTaichou 3 points4 points ago

Mind if I use this for my desktop?

[–]cmmoyer 1 point2 points ago

Knock yourself out!

[–]dancer101 1 point2 points ago

That is awesome!! Makes a great wallpaper!

[–]cmmoyer 0 points1 point ago

Not the first time I've heard that! Glad you like it!

[–]gnarlycharlie4u 0 points1 point ago

bravo, that is an excellent shot.

[–]YouTubeCommentsOnly 0 points1 point ago

This is one of the coolest fireworks pictures I've ever seen.

[–]solarnexus 22 points23 points ago

Thats so awesome i would not be surprised if this became a thing

[–]sigint_bn 19 points20 points ago

Oh, it's already a thing :D http://www.flickr.com/groups/focusblur/

This is where we first learned of it http://www.flickr.com/groups/fireworks/discuss/72157594204503765/#comment72157603801014430

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stupidlogic/2679472399/lightbox/

[–]sweatysocks[S] 12 points13 points ago

I Had no idea! That's incredible! I could easily see this type of photography being an art form that people learn to control. I would love to have a ton of fireworks at my disposal to mess around with it...

[–]Noshing 9 points10 points ago

You don't have to have fireworks. Experiment with other forms of light and see what you can come up with. Mix this technique with light painting, etc.

[–]sweatysocks[S] 2 points3 points ago

Definitely going to give it a shot. I would love to have the same result with a strobe or flash, freezing a scene then having these .... creatures... hovering above the floor or something. That would be fun.

[–]suddenlyshoes 0 points1 point ago

Can you give some examples of other light conditions? I'm having a hard time coming up with a list.

[–]Noshing 0 points1 point ago

I'm pretty sure any kind of light that is in motion through darkness will do. It may not have the same effect as the fireworks. Car lights, explosions, etc. Maybe get a bundle of Christmas lights and have a friend throw them up and out. That may turn out pretty cool. I've yet to experiment with this technique so my comprehension of it isn't the best, but it shouldn't take too much experimenting to get a better comprehension of it.

[–]murrdith16 2 points3 points ago

Sparklers perhaps?

[–]LucilleDeux[!] 0 points1 point ago

blechhhhhhargghhhhhhhhhomg

[–]soulbend 2 points3 points ago

One way or another, these pics are going to be viewed a lot.

[–]feureau 7 points8 points ago

wait, you started at out of focus then move it to focus at infinity, right?

[–]shelldog 2 points3 points ago

That's the way it looks. Conversely, for one of the other pics in there, he started out in sharp focus, then faded to blur so it looks like a reverse pin cushion.

[–]sweatysocks[S] 3 points4 points ago

Yep, that's exactly what it is. Strangely enough, near the end of the show they started shooting fireworks like crazy so I just tore through the focus ring back and forth and went trigger happy on the camera's Bulb mode. That's where some of these showed up.

[–]shelldog 2 points3 points ago

...Bulb mode? Could you elaborate, please?

[–]sweatysocks[S] 8 points9 points ago

The camera's bulb mode allows you to have an exposure that's as long as your finger is on the shutter... you're essentially holding the camera open then releasing the shutter to close up the exposure. It's helpful, because you can press the shutter when you see a firework shooting up, then release the shutter once the explosion is done. That way, you stop it before another one explodes in the same place. That's the thing that's unreliable about predetermined long exposures like 10 seconds or 30 seconds... you have no control as to if more are going to start shooting up and creating visual noise from too many exposed fireworks.

[–]shelldog 1 point2 points ago

That's pretty neat, I never knew that existed before. Except, I have never seen that function on my camera (Rebel T3i), but I know that it has that function available. I just tried looking it up, and every page I found just said what the bulb function was, not how to activate it. Any ideas?

[–]sweatysocks[S] 2 points3 points ago

On the T3i it should be standard... check the function knob (the one that has all your shooting modes, like AV, TV, etc... it'll be "B" for bulb). That's about as technical as I get when it comes to camera functions lol

[–]shelldog 5 points6 points ago

I figured it out! In M (Manual) mode, you just simply scroll past 30 seconds for the shutter speed. I read on some site that 30s is the max duration for automatic shutter speed, so I figured I'd try to scroll past that, and boom, there was BULB! Thanks for the heads up though! I love learning new things about my camera

[–]liberalis 2 points3 points ago

For exposures where you want the camera to be very still, use an automatic shutter release in Bulb mode. Prevents shake blur. Star trails for example.

[–]glyxbaer 4 points5 points ago

You can however, if you want the exposure to stop, just switch off your camera. The photo will still be saved...

I always shoot fireworks with 30s exposures and just switch the camera off as soon as I think, I captured something good.

[–]sweatysocks[S] 2 points3 points ago

This is true. I've used that before, I just found I had more control with bulb mode.

[–]chewp911 1 point2 points ago

How is that better than bulb mode?

[–]glyxbaer 1 point2 points ago

Better? I don't really know why I still do it now... but I started doing it because I didn't have a remote by then and obviously holding the shutter in bulb mode resulted in blurry pictures.

So 2 second autotimer + turning off the cam was a cheap, simple and working solution.

[–]Thisisyoureading 2 points3 points ago

The 2nd one from that is my favourite. It worked surprisingly well.

[–]VulturE 1 point2 points ago

Your pics are much nicer than the other ones on flickr...everyone else's shots just look like blurry pictures, whereas yours are sweeter looking.

what technique does this?

[–]sweatysocks[S] 5 points6 points ago

Using a 50mm 1.4 lens on a Canon 5DmkII, I had a neutral density filter and a very wide aperture to get as much focus blur as possible. I started at a 2 foot focus distance then quickly shot it to just before infinity. In some of the shots you can see where I accidentally went right to infinity, where it goes into a crisp line then tapers off slightly.

[–]COLLEGE_FRAT_GUY 22 points23 points ago

You should post this to r/ExposurePorn

[–]Misanthropologist 13 points14 points ago

This better not be nude photos of desert corpses.

[–]vwllss 21 points22 points ago

I feel like this should be called longexposureporn. Technically all photos are exposures.

[–]SaintJimothy 2 points3 points ago

You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!

[–]Lutgerion 11 points12 points ago

TIL about r/ExposurePorn.

[–]RocketMan63 17 points18 points ago

/r/exposureporn

[–]TheThingy 5 points6 points ago

Thank you

[–]hobsonUSAF 17 points18 points ago

Thats fucking awesome! I've seen adjusting focal length during them, but never thought about the focus ring! Good stuff!

[–]SkinnedRat 2 points3 points ago

I've been doing some experimenting with focal length adjustments during exposures lately, but this never even crossed my mind!

Upvotes for creativity and fresh ideas! (well, fresh to me, anyways :))

[–]codemunkeh 12 points13 points ago

You are a bastard. A creative, skilled bastard.

sulks in corner with an autofocus point and shoot

[–]SproutandtheBean 5 points6 points ago

They look like succulents.

[–]-n8shac- 2 points3 points ago

That's awesome!

`

Can you do one as an HDR? '

'

/s

[–]-n8shac- 1 point2 points ago

...nobody gets my humor! boooooooooooooo

[–]sweatysocks[S] 3 points4 points ago

I got it. I had to think for a second, only to realize it'd be impossible to shoot three exposures of the same explosion... I'm kinda sad it took me that long

[–]Morophin3 1 point2 points ago

Very cool

[–]Nechronic420 1 point2 points ago

Oh god that's so rad.

[–]freakstate 0 points1 point ago

That is beautiful, excellent shot!

[–]PhtoJoe 1 point2 points ago

Most unique photo I have seen in a looong time. Fine work!

[–]Fulguroblastor 0 points1 point ago

Great idea. Awesome and gorgeous result !!

[–]mraddams 0 points1 point ago

This is so cool! Can't wait to try :)

[–]TechnoL33T 0 points1 point ago

Fucking grade A win!

[–]gotfoundout 1 point2 points ago

Yep. Freaking awesome. They almost look like Lotus flowers! I absolutely love it. Edit: Of the others you posted, the second one down is my favorite. It's mesmerizing.

[–]davreddits 0 points1 point ago

Awesome work!

[–]Mr_Rain 0 points1 point ago

Wow that's fucking awesome!

[–]legalizethebeat 0 points1 point ago

Fantastic but I am a little confused about how its done.

[–]theplotbot 0 points1 point ago

This is supremely cool!

[–]Rhode 0 points1 point ago

Some hi-res versions would be great for desktop backgrounds.

[–]sweatysocks[S] 1 point2 points ago

I'll go through some more of the pics and see about putting together a high-res imgur album!

[–]tnoms 0 points1 point ago

and this is why I subscribe to this subreddit. awesome picture.

[–]thetebe 0 points1 point ago

That is really cool! A happy mistake or lots of trying?

[–]sweatysocks[S] 1 point2 points ago

Definitely a happy mistake. I've heard of refocusing during long exposure for fireworks and lights before, but never expected a turnout like this. I'm going to the International Fireworks Competition in Gatineau, QC Canada for Spain and China over the next few days. I'm definitely going to be trying this out again!

[–]aymgon 1 point2 points ago

I don't upvote very often in this subreddit, but that photo looks so cool! I feel like I could almost touch it

[–]emdiz 0 points1 point ago

you win

[–]andrew80 1 point2 points ago

Try doing that with your iPhone! (Well, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an app for this...)

[–]ThirdEyedea 0 points1 point ago

Woah...fractals.

[–]rdouma 0 points1 point ago

Brilliant, inspiring! I'll surely try this myself.

[–]JadeyG 0 points1 point ago

That. Is clever, well done.

[–]kpduwm -1 points0 points ago

Nice work! really beautiful photos!

[–]orionshmorion 0 points1 point ago

Fire-bonacci Works!

[–]papakdesign 0 points1 point ago

Thank you for sharing this!

[–]DNZ_not_DMZ 0 points1 point ago

Amazing!

[–]mbluhm36420 0 points1 point ago

Looks like a pineapple

[–]gnarlycharlie4u 0 points1 point ago

this is fucking fantastic!

[–]liberalis 0 points1 point ago

That is a really inventive and effective way to use that technique. The photos look nice. Good job.

[–]RudyChicken 0 points1 point ago

This is really awesome!

[–]whomphoto 0 points1 point ago

I have never liked fireworks photos until today.

[–]gome1122 1 point2 points ago

Did you start out of focus and then focus or the other way around?

[–]sweatysocks[S] 1 point2 points ago

For most of them I started out of focus, then quickly focused to infinity. There is one photo I did the opposite though, in the extra album with the green 'pedals' on the red 'stems'.

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