Water in motion appeals to the senses and to the spirit. Water soothes, satisfies and energizes. Simple and elemental, water attracts us. Lakes, rivers, streams and, especially, waterfalls lead us to a meditative state. I will post photographs of water in motion over the next few weeks. This first post is a detail of the Kings River in Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.
Motion Blur
2
Feb 10
Flowing Traffic in Las Vegas
In September 2009 I attended a Photoshop conference in Las Vegas. It was my first visit to Las Vegas and I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a landscape photographer, I was more drawn to the hills around the city than to the casinos, but I decided to see what I could find. This shot was taken from one of the pedestrian walkways above the main strip. I slowed the shutter speed to 1/2 second to blur the lights of the cars and suggest some of the frenetic energy of the city.
8
Jan 10
Circular Motion and Intentional Blur
A pleasing effect is created by rotating the camera as the shutter is open, as I did on this image of flowers in my front yard. A more symmetrical result is possible by using a tripod and a telephoto lens with a tripod collar. If the collar is loosened slightly while attached to the tripod, it is easy to rotate the camera about 180 degrees while the shutter is open.
5
Jan 10
Vertical Sweep and Blur
This is another in the Motion Blur series. Aperture setting was f13. I used a three stop Neutral Density filter to slow the exposure to 2.5 seconds and moved the camera up and to the right. The flowers were in my yard–Marguerites, and a white daisy. This technique feels like painting with the camera. I like the effect very much but the outcome is successful only occasionally. Often there is not enough detail to identify the subject.
2
Jan 10
Intentional Blur for a “Painterly” Effect
This image is is from my front yard and is of white daisies, Marguerites and red petunias. I used a Singh-Ray Variable Neutral Density filter to slow the shutter speed to 1.3 seconds at an aperture of f13. As the shutter opened, I dragged the camera up and to the right to blur the image and create an impression of motion.