Blues Festival 4th of July 2025 Fireworks • Focus Blur Part 3 • Popping the Cork on the Champagne
On this night after a little trial and error I stuck to 2sec exposures. I began each exposure with the scene in focus, and began the exposure as a fireworks was launched, and then turned the focus ring during the exposure. Even then I came back with a lot of misses, where the transition from focus to blur was not in synch with the pacing of the fireworks. But because fireworks most often are fired in sets the focus blur - when you’re lucky - is timed nicely with some of them; and the combination of focus blurred fireworks and sharper ones is a nice mix.
In this exposure (started just 3secs after the previous photo) I managed to turn the focus ring a bit farther during the 2 sec exposure resulting in some larger out of focus elements, easily seen in the halos around the artificial lights of the scene. The more out of focus a light element becomes, the dimmer it gets, preventing the sharper/brighter in-focus lights from getting washed out. But for the fireworks which are moving and changing brightness during the exposure it’s easy for the in focused parts of the exposure to get washed out by brighter out of focus fireworks.
One thing I wished I had done was have the lens aperture wide open instead of at f11, doing so would have kept the out of focus elements of the lights rounder. This could be done by using an ND filter to compensate for opening the aperture and still keep the exposure to 2sec. Poets Beach, Portland, Oregon OM26040
Blues Festival 4th of July 2025 Fireworks • Focus Blur Part 3 • Popping the Cork on the Champagne
On this night after a little trial and error I stuck to 2sec exposures. I began each exposure with the scene in focus, and began the exposure as a fireworks was launched, and then turned the focus ring during the exposure. Even then I came back with a lot of misses, where the transition from focus to blur was not in synch with the pacing of the fireworks. But because fireworks most often are fired in sets the focus blur - when you’re lucky - is timed nicely with some of them; and the combination of focus blurred fireworks and sharper ones is a nice mix.
In this exposure (started just 3secs after the previous photo) I managed to turn the focus ring a bit farther during the 2 sec exposure resulting in some larger out of focus elements, easily seen in the halos around the artificial lights of the scene. The more out of focus a light element becomes, the dimmer it gets, preventing the sharper/brighter in-focus lights from getting washed out. But for the fireworks which are moving and changing brightness during the exposure it’s easy for the in focused parts of the exposure to get washed out by brighter out of focus fireworks.
One thing I wished I had done was have the lens aperture wide open instead of at f11, doing so would have kept the out of focus elements of the lights rounder. This could be done by using an ND filter to compensate for opening the aperture and still keep the exposure to 2sec. Poets Beach, Portland, Oregon OM26040