Abbie Rhoad
Nick UlivieriWhat happens when you twist your lens' focus ring while shooting long exposures of fireworks
It's an imperfect technique; it requires a lot of trail and error (and twisting). For ever 20 frames you might get a good one if you're aimed in the right place. I find the most interesting images come from starting out-of-focus. Also shoot with a wide aperture for big bokeh.
Sci-Fi Girl
Glyph@Nick_ulivieri “trail and error” I see what you did there
Tammi 𝆮 𓃠@Nick_ulivieri i like that picture a lot!
i did something a bit similar to add a halo bloomish effect onto a handheld tele long exposure that i was doing. the focus pull hides the shakiness somewhat.
chaos.social/@tamtararam/112420991954688055
i did something a bit similar to add a halo bloomish effect onto a handheld tele long exposure that i was doing. the focus pull hides the shakiness somewhat.
chaos.social/@tamtararam/112420991954688055
Fernhead@Nick_ulivieri A happy accident!
@Fernhead It was very deliberate. I basically shot an entire 4th of July neigborhood fireworks show using this technique. Lots of reject frames for sure, but a few were really stellar
@Nick_ulivieri well the results are stellar.
@Fernhead Thanks! If you've taken enough 'normal' firework photos, this is a fun way to shake things up
El Fotografo@Nick_ulivieri Was never curious about that until I saw this.
kcǃ@Nick_ulivieri WOW 🤩 what an amazing shot!!
Dario@Nick_ulivieri @binarytango ok, I have to try this!
naught101@Nick_ulivieri Twisting the focus? Or the zoom? Is this on it's side?
Having trouble figuring how this works. Is this one very out of focus, and then comes more into focus later in the shot (hence narrowing of the bokeh?)
@naught101 not the zoom, only the focus. And you’re right. This starts out or focus and comes into focus (nearly) at the end of the exposure. That’s they the bokekntightens up as the exploding embers expand outwards.
Japonica@Nick_ulivieri @naught101 I did it with zoom and broke a lens!
Love what you've achieved here!
nikkiana@Nick_ulivieri Oooh! That's pretty!
Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools NZ@Nick_ulivieri Nice experimenting!
canusfeminacanisThis might explain what goes on in the optic nerve on LSD.
consulessa@Nick_ulivieri Amazing!
Jelly@Nick_ulivieri @philo very cool effect!
LordPhantom (Mathew)@Nick_ulivieri That's very cool. I do love a great photo. :-)
decibyte@Nick_ulivieri beat this, AI.
Janne@Nick_ulivieri Wow, beautiful! I don‘t dare to ask how many shots you missed until this beauty appeared.
Given the shapes I guess you had to start defocused and then just hit the spot while fireworks were flying, right? Incredible.
Given the shapes I guess you had to start defocused and then just hit the spot while fireworks were flying, right? Incredible.
@tanuva Maybe 1 of 15 hits with something interesting. I was shooting neighborhood fireworks in the city on the 4th, so I had a couple hours. But, yes, I start defocused and rigged up a little focus index 'stopper' with a couple paper clips at ∞ so I'd end the exposure as focused as I could get given the situation
@tanuva The challenge was always knowing where the fireworks were coming from. I had an 180° views and they were coming from all over. Some people were more active but then would rest and another group would start firing. Half the battle was getting the camera pointed in the right direction as I head the 'thud' of the mortar fire from its tube
Rorzer@Nick_ulivieri @tanuva
I thought there must be some sort of tactile marker for "target". Also guessing this is a manual/mechanical focus ring, rather than the "focus adjustment" rings you get on fully electronic lenses.
I thought there must be some sort of tactile marker for "target". Also guessing this is a manual/mechanical focus ring, rather than the "focus adjustment" rings you get on fully electronic lenses.
Eliot Lovell@Nick_ulivieri beautiful 😍
Shazzt@Nick_ulivieri That looks amazing.
Walker
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
Shield Maiden@Nick_ulivieri Ohhh...I wonder if the makers know/knew this?
Simone Marini 
@Nick_ulivieri Well, the Japanese word for fireworks, hanabi, literally translates as “flower-fire". Spot on.
~ z ~ curator of cosmic dust@simone__marini @Nick_ulivieri
very cool photo!! 😍
similar in chinese! i am nowhere near fluent in mandarin but did happen to learn recently how to say 'fireworks' which translates literally to 'smoke flowers' 煙花 (had to look up the characters just now 😅) and in looking those up, i've now learned that firework (singular) is 'blazing fire' 焰火 💥 languages are fun 😊
@CuratorOfCosmicDust @simone__marini Thanks for sharing! This is an interesting tidbit!
wirer@Nick_ulivieri That looks cool!
toot the bad cone@Nick_ulivieri i love this!!
S Fraser@Nick_ulivieri Wow. Just wow! That is brilliant.
Deji@Nick_ulivieri Wow! Beautiful.
Sofia ☭🇧🇷☭@Nick_ulivieri this is so gorgeous. Do you have a version of this/similar photos available as a wallpaper?
MercedesThis looks awesome!
Scott@Nick_ulivieri ok yeah that's fukn cool
dojoe@Nick_ulivieri HOLY SHIT that's mindblowingly beautiful and ingenious.
Sarcasmo220@Nick_ulivieri That looks amazing!
Equationeer@Nick_ulivieri This is absolutely beautiful.
L@Nick_ulivieri stunning! Well done.
Constant Geekery@Nick_ulivieri fantastic! How do you move the rocus ring without introducing motion blur?
@constantgeekery A sturdy tripod helps, but you don’t, really. If you look close you can see some slight serpentine wobbles in the ‘jets’ as the expand outwards. Adds a little interest.
@Nick_ulivieri it’s lovely work 👌🏻
Terence Truth
Brian Ketelsen@Nick_ulivieri beautiful!
Carla B@Nick_ulivieri beautifully done! 👏 ❤️
sigmadog@Nick_ulivieri I used to do this with sports action shots. It was tricky to keep the center area in focus, but when it worked, it was a great effect. The shorter exposures made the zoom blur a bit shorter and gave a tunnel effect to the action.
flintpope@Nick_ulivieri Looks like generative art
Cairo Braga [toot]@flintpope @Nick_ulivieri it is: art generated by a human experimenting with an artistic instrument.
what you might be referring to is actually "derivative imagery": images derivated by large language models from millions of works of art generated by humans who did not consent to that processing and derivation.
noelgl@Nick_ulivieri love it !
Photo Ewen 📷That looks like fun!
ottergauze@Nick_ulivieri That looks stunning.
David
Ben Yafai@Nick_ulivieri that’s beautiful