Painting with Fire

– By David W. Powell

Shooting Fireworks has been a regular outing for me for the last 50 years. These images were all handheld. A tripod is way too constrictive for me and doesn’t allow for much freedom of movement. Shutter speed doesn’t determine exposure; it does determine the length of the streaks. Most of these shots were at f/11 with an ISO of 200, using the bulb setting or 1 sec for shutter speed.

A relatively straight shot for context.

If you trace an individual streak, you can follow my hand-camera movements. It takes a little practice and is way different from trying to hold the camera steady. These shots are all single exposures… no Photoshop tricks here beyond exposure optimization and cropping.

A little more abstract with monochrome.

Here I duplicated the background layer, flipped it, and combined them using layer blending modes. I can’t remember which ones. If you want to try…you work it out. Play around. It’s fun.

These last four shots were taken at Bowie Baysoxs Stadium in PG county. There was no breeze that night. I think the smoke adds drama… what do you think?

This is dead easy fun kinetic photography. Do a little hand dancing with your camera at a ball game or on the Fourth of July. Show us your results!

Dave Powell
Closer Focus Moderator
davidwesleypowell@gmail.com
davidwpowellphotography.com