Photographer’s Gorgeous Abstract Fireworks Footage Defy Conference

Firework shows are few and much between, making it laborious to follow photographing them. Fortunately for Benjamin Sunkyong Kim, he lives in New York and each Friday evening from July to September there’s a fireworks show at Coney Island.

It’s simply as nicely as a result of the defocusing method Kim practices requires a whole lot of persistence and talent. “It is more complicated than it seems,” Kim tells PetaPixel. “Each photo requires a specific workflow: track the fireball, predict the explosion time and location, aim, lock the tripod head, press the shutter right as it explodes, and defocus steadily at a consistent speed.”

Kim says he should keep “very calm” whereas photographing the explosives as every step is repeated with care over the course of a show.

“I have one special piece of equipment for fireworks, which is the Sony A-mount 135mm f/2.8 T/4.5 STF lens,” Kim explains. “While regular lenses often produce sharp or busy bokeh and blurs, an STF lens provides smooth transitions and perfectly round bokeh, making it the perfect choice for my work.”

He additionally makes use of an Olympus EE-1 dot sight as a result of a large view is required to trace the fireballs. “Both the viewfinder and LCD screen are too narrow to monitor the surrounding area, which makes predicting and shooting very difficult,” he provides.

It took Kim 4 years to determine the right method. “There was a lot of trial and error,” he says. “I had to start from scratch, find the right equipment, such as the lens, tripod head, and accessories.”

“I’ve been shooting fireworks at Coney Island for more than eight years,” he provides. “And now I want to travel around the world to shoot different fireworks. I don’t want to shoot from the same locations over and over again, as that will eventually limit my creativity and vision. Besides, it’s a good way to justify traveling around the world, so hopefully, I can make that happen.”

Earlier this yr, PetaPixel featured the work of photographer Bryan Szucs, who makes use of an identical method to Kim. He defined that it was after seeing an article on PetaPixel about creatively capturing fireworks that he determined to pursue the method.

More of Kim’s work will be discovered on his website and Instagram.

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Image credit: Photographs by Benjamin Sunkyong Kim