Just when you thought that you had to have everything in focus there comes along a technique called Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). By simply moving the camera and using a slow shutter speed (or ND filter) it can turn a scene into monster chaos called “art,” all in-camera.
This is a trial and error experiment with duration of exposure combined with direction and amount of camera movement, other than that there are no rules. It’s not for everyone because it requires many failures before you get a keeper and the end result in 100% subjective beauty. In addition, just because you can doesn’t mean that you should…a little movement can go along way here so buyer beware.
There are many applications for this in outdoor photography but here I attempted it on fireworks. The technique for shooting fireworks involves using a tripod, but no one said you couldn’t swivel the camera back and forth while on the tripod?
With a wide-angle zoom lens you can combine the zoom with other camera movements at the same time. I forgot to try that this time but there will always be more fireworks.
