One of the highlights of large festivals and fairs is the midway full of rides and amusements. The lights, sounds and excitement are a photographers dream. It can be especially fun to photograph the carnival lights at dusk, when some ambient light remains and the rides are at their most magical moment. When it gets completely dark, that is usually the signal for the photographer to head home. Without the contrast of surroundings, carnival lights lose some of their dynamic energy.
When I was photographing at Olympia's annual Lakefair festival this year, I ran into that problem. The last remaining color had been drained from the sky. As I photographed the rides, they were no longer recognizable and had turned into streaks and circles of light. One or two of these are interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me photographing.
As I got ready to leave, I decided to try one last thing. I set my camera to ISO 100 and my smallest aperture, f/32. In manual exposure mode, I set the shutter speed to 1.3 seconds. And then, I took the camera off the tripod. Focusing on the center of the Ferris wheel, I began to move the camera while I pressed down the shutter button. The Ferris wheel was moving in its circular motion. I moved the camera in somewhat square and swirly patterns. Some of the results are shown below.
I really like the strong rainbow colors. And, the spirograph like patterns are really fun.
