Sickles Insight

Tips & Tricks – “Motion”

SKILL LEVEL: Advanced

HOW IT WORKS: Giving an image motion often involves blurring in some form. There are many different techniques and approaches to capturing motion, most of which are hard to execute properly, but with practice and a little luck it can be a powerful effect. Anytime you can take a picture using a motion technique, you capture more than just a moment in time, but also a story and the “LIFE” of that moment.

In the example above the blurred motion is in the swirling ride which is the subject of the picture. Normally you want your subject in focus, but the effect works in this case because you have some context around the moving cars which helps to tell the rest of the story. This approach involves holding the camera very still, and allowing the movement to blur on its own for you.

The example above is much harder to pull off however, as it involves panning the camera on your subject as they move. The panning should start before the picture is taken, while the shutter is pressed and also afterwards briefly. The goal is to keep the camera panning at the same speed as your subject so that everything else blurs, and the subject stays sharp or only slightly blurred. Shutter speed is also key as a fast shutter speed (1/60 or faster) will not produce as much blur. The slower the shutter, the blurrier the effect.

In the above picture some blurring effects were added in Adobe Photoshop to enhance the spinning effect. Adding blur to pictures after the fact is becoming a popular technique today, and is very effective when used in moderation. But be careful not to over do it, or repeat the effect to often as it can be easily overdone.
From Behind the Lens is a monthly newsletter made available by this Grand Rapids photographer. This article is one of many produced by Coastline Studios. View the rest of the articles by clicking here.

What’s New with Coastline Studios?

Coastline Studios was proud to sponsor the Compass Film Academy’s 24 hour film festival in April. This is the 8^th festival the Alumni Board of the Academy has put together, and this year’s festival was one of the best since it first started in 2003. The event was a huge success with 29 teams competing, and well over 500 people in attendance at the screening night, held a week after the films were completed.This event is quite unique from other festivals in that each team competing has to create a film from scratch within 24 hours. From concept and writing, to filming and editing … all of it must be completely original and created within the allotted 24 hour time period. To ensure the films are made within 24 hours each team must include 4 elements that are drawn randomly from a hat on the night of the producer’s meeting.

To read more about it and see some of the winning films, be sure to check out Compass Film Academy’s website. The winning films should post later this week on their website. Check it out!

www.CompassAcademy.org

Media of the Month

TITLE: “Spacious Dining Room”

PHOTOGRAPHER: John Pottenger

TECHNICAL: Shutter: 1/100, Aperture: f4, ISO: 200, Focal Length:

12mm – On Tripod.

THE STORY: Coastline Studios was hired to document this beautiful “new build” house both in still photographs and with a video tour through our sister company, “The Ultimate Tour”. The entire house was adorned with hand crafted custom wood work throughout, as well as many accents like crown molding, custom windows and decorative tile work. This spacious dinning room captures you immediately when walking into the home, and was a joy to photograph and video tape. Our compliments to S&L Construction on their fine craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Free Monthly Wallpaper

Trackback URI | Comments RSS