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Exploring Creative Blur Through Subject Movement

Lesson 7 from: FAST CLASS: Creating Painterly Photographs

Kathleen Clemons

Exploring Creative Blur Through Subject Movement

Lesson 7 from: FAST CLASS: Creating Painterly Photographs

Kathleen Clemons

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Lesson Info

7. Exploring Creative Blur Through Subject Movement

Lesson Info

Exploring Creative Blur Through Subject Movement

going to start off talking about fun with a slow shutter, and I'm sure you've probably all tried photographing moving water with a slow shutter. But let's move beyond water in your typical subjects and see what else we can do with that for fun. My friend, the late Clifton mayor was an amazing photographer and he loved to capture motion, and we were talking one day and he told me that 1/15 of a second was his favorite shutter speed, and I never thought about having. I might have a favorite aperture, but really never thought about having, ah, favorite shutter speed. And since that time I've really tried Thio to play around with shutter speed, both with moving subjects and stationary subjects. Ah, little bit more. But he was a huge influence on that for May. So here are a couple of older shots of mine that I took of a Spanish dancer on Started to try and play with shutter speed. Thio emphasize the blur to to create that feeling of motion. I wanted you to be able to feel the dance, and ah,...

shot with a fast shutter wouldn't do that. It would freeze the motion, but I think a slow shutter allows you toe feel the dance more so subject moves and your camera remains. Still, this is a shot that I took those air ale wives. It's, Ah, fish that we have in Maine and they were having a little swimming frenzy. And so I shot them with a fast shutter and froze the motion. And then I thought, What would happen if I played around with some slow shutter? So this is at 1/20 of a second and one of the fun things about shooting, moving subjects with a slow shutters that No two of your photos, they're gonna be the same. You know, there's there's gonna be more movement, especially if you're experimenting with different shutter speeds. It's just really, really fun. And it's a non documentary shot. It's a more artistic photo. Have the subject this I shot above, though that fish pond, these air some goals, having a feeding frenzy, chasing nail wives and it's it's beyond the obvious, And nobody's ever going to say to you. I have one exactly like that because they can't. There's no way that's had 1/13 of a second. This is a leaf whirlpool that I shot at a Kate again. I was on a tripod because you can see that there's a large area that had to be tax sharp here around the edges. So when I need tax sharp, I am on a tripod as well. Um, so I want you to start thinking about embracing the blur. Think outside the box. That's a 12th exposure. It took me to capture that world pool effect. We could just see the leaves moving around a little bit and thought, Hmm. Slow shutter that shot this during Hurricane Irene will not in the middle of it, um, as it was coming up the coast I live right on the coast of Maine is it was coming in. The wind was starting Thio churn. My neighbors Japanese maple was just, you know, just crazy with high energy wind and no rain yet. So I went out handheld and braced my elbows against my body and, uh, try a slow shutter and shot. And for me that captured the feeling of the storm. You know, I can feel the energy in that. And if I'd shot that with a fast shutter and just froze the motion of the leaves. I wouldn't have that. This is another one at a Katya and I'd already put my tripod in the car. E was waiting for my friends and sitting next to this little Brooke and the leaves started to move around. So I braced the camera on my knee and shot this, uh, 2.5 seconds. Now there's nothing Sure there's nothing sharp here, but I still like it because I love the feeling of movement in the autumn colors. This is a flirtatious peacock in Charleston, Magnolia Plantation doing a dance in full display. And, um, I already have, Ah, a couple of nice peacock shots of the little face and then the and the feathers. Um, but I wanted to do something different. So I thought, when when I'm trying to think outside the box, I think, Well, slow shutter this image I shot in Boston at South Station. I was shooting Boston with some of my friends, and it's a hard place for me to shoot because I'm not a street photographer and everything is straight. The buildings air straight the lines of straight and I'm attracted to curve so it's a real stretch for me. So, um, they were off shooting something else. So I was in South Station and thought, I'll play with slow shutter. So I followed the passengers with my camera so that, uh, there are just very, very small areas in focus, and the train is not in focus, but you get that man's face is and it's just a very painterly look. So don't think about just nature with these techniques. I actually brace the camera on a railing so that I could hand hold it. And this is a situation where you could try shooting on burst. Um, because, you know, as they're moving, you could just follow them and shoot on burst. So now the one from the same shot, And this time the train wasn't moving. But look at her boot. I That boot is tack sharp. When I saw that on the back of my camera like I nailed it, I loved the shot. And like the reflections in the window and the windows of the train as well and the slow shutter This is my husband doing one of his favorite things, and that's racing cars. Uh, this is a 34 Chevy, and when I shot him, he was going 115 miles an hour. This is at 1/60 of a second. So I was a new high speed panning. So, you know, my first shot. He's not even in it. Second shot at the back of the car is in it. So then I got smart, set my camera to burst, and a soon as I could hear him getting close, I'd hit the burst pan, and then I could catch him in the frame. But you know, he's not crazy about many of my blurry photos, but he really does like like this one. When you do this, you really need a colorful black background, and this is a really challenging technique for everybody. Um, panning is so you have to be prepared to delete a lot. But now and then there will just be a gem. I tried the same technique. I went to a barrel race event more panning, fun and tried toe follow the barrel ratios, which is tough because they go in different directions. And, uh and it was fun. And your what you want to do is get your subject and focus in the background blurred eso. You need a good background with a lot of detail and and fun. Not easy, but a fun challenge.

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Krystyna
 

I really liked it, it was inspiring and clear. I need more courses like this...

Phillip Ziegler
 

Wonderful teacher and a well presented course--both this short version and the long one

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