Motion Blur


16
Aug 10

Flowing Water

Photograph of the Kings River in Kings Canyon National ParkWater 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.


12
Feb 10

Traffic Lights in Las Vegas

Flowing traffic lights at night in Las VegasA second image of intentionally blurred car lights in Las Vegas. The shutter speed was longer, 1.3 seconds, to lengthen the trails of the headlights and taillights of the cars. The motion suggests the continual flow of visitors, cars and money in Las Vegas.


2
Feb 10

Flowing Traffic in Las Vegas

Flowing Traffic lights on the Las Vegas StripIn 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.


4
Jan 10

Adding Zoom to Intentional Blur

image of white daisies blurred by a zoom lensThis image of Daisies was taken in Monterey, California, with a 17-55mm zoom lens. The shutter speed was slowed to 2.5 seconds by using a variable neutral density filter. During the exposure, I zoomed the lens out from 55mm to 17mm. The effect changes when the lens is zoomed in rather than out.


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.