One more technique worth mentioning is the rear curtain flash. Set your shutter speed long enough to capture the blurry motion, and then at the end of the exposure have a quick, subtle burst of flash to freeze the object. When done correctly it creates amazing semi abstract images, where you can see the smudgy moves, but then a part of the image is sharp and recognisable. Works great with dancers, even better when they have lights or reflective elements on their clothing.
One area where slow shutters/blurry motion can work really well is in sports photography (which I guess was also illustrated by the opening rodeo images). It can be really fun to shoot something like athletics where you keep the face in focus but blur the bejebus out of the moving feet and hands. Can serve to illustrate so much - speed, power, focus, effort - some of those things that are the key to sporting performance.
What a great video and novel concept. In a world where we view the camera as a tool to capture our perceived reality, Alex has (rightly) promoted it as being able to go far beyond that limitation. There is so much that photography can offer if we choose to think outside of the frame.......... thanks for the inspiration Alex!!!!
Great vid. Slow shutter speeds and motion blur was one of things that excited me most when I first got into photography. Been wanting to play around with it again, so thanks for the inspo :)
3:23 What a stunning image, this is art!!! I use long exposure to create lightrail in my cityscapes, because I love the effect. Thank you for showing all the other possibilities, in this video!
Nice to See this Episode. That was exactly my subject for the Last month before the Frost. I went Out in the morning and looked for very much textured and colorful dalias here in my garden. All I Had to do is Take my Macro get Close and shoot at 1/8 of a second thereby shaking the camera. I got explosions of color and form and I really enjoyed the whole process! Now I'm storing my tubers for next years garden photo sessions thinking about what expressive multi color dalias I still need to get for even more exiting pictures.
some great food for thought here Alex.....have started collecting gum leaves of various colours and was thinking of having them falling in front of the lens backlit (ISM...or intentional subject moving :))...or even go one step further and combine it with ICM or double exposure....there's so much to try :)
Thank you for another awesome amazing and inspiring video. As RUclips is typically just a massive ocean of gear reviews coming to your channel is such a refreshing breath of sophisticated yet simple ideas that can produce super unique results. You truly are an awesome source of inspiration. Thank you.
Glad to see Hiroshi Sugimoto get a mention, inspired by his work I went out into the city a few weeks ago with the intention of taking blurred photos. I was happy with the results, it's great to experiment.
Hi Alex, i really enjoyed this video and it is good to experiment with our photography. I liked the photos from Chris McCaw, he has his own style. I photographed a Plane at F/16 which is unheard of. It was a Bright sunny day with a blue Sky. I experimented and got good results. Many thanks Alex 😊
Great inspiration, this concept of capturing movement is something I've been exploring in my Motorsport photography, I call it seeing speed, as the perfect panning images never quite convinced what your senses were being attacked with.
Recently I have been chasing the Aurora Australas, visually where I live, I can at times see sutle hints of colour, but more likely shades of grey. The camera however captures the colours, my settings are ISO 100, Wide open aperture and I adjust the exposure time generally from 8-15 secs, depending on the lens I am using and the colour are amazing.
I blew through several rolls of film at a bicycle race back in the 90s. I tried all sorts of camera speeds and apertures to see what the effects would be. I learned a lot about my camera that day.
I was thinking the other day how the camera can see and record light trails, that we don't often perceive. What if we did, we'd be seeing blurry all the time. :) Great video, lots of inspiration!
I think I'm as excited as you! I paused the video after seeing one of the images you showed of the sun's arc and began wondering if I had enough neutral density in the house to take a 4 or 8 hour exposure with a properly exposed foreground and the sun's arc during that time. I do some solar photography so I have some of those filters around. I have the R6 upstairs right now eating away at a 1 hour test exposure to see if I can even get in the ball park. Its cloudy today so no sun but maybe I'll post it to the FB group if anything turns up. Cheers!
I'm a newbie who's still figuring out my niche, but am drawn to abstract. I really felt inspired by this video and am thinking of joining your Photographic Eye community. What level to folks in the community tend to be at?
I can't quite bring myself to deliberately take blurry photos, as holding the camera steady was drummed in to me from the start, a long time ago. Having said that I'm happy with panning, and longer exposures of things like moving water, or a person or vehicle moving through a scene, although I try to keep the surroundings sharp. Perhaps it's time for this old dog to try new tricks! Interesting and informative video, as usual.
Great presentation, thank you! Some of the works by Hiroshi Sugimoto remind me of the “Are Bure Boke” photography of 5 Japanese photographers that contribute to the 3 issues in 1968/1969 of “Provoke” magazine.
Wow. I feel you've been a little off point recently. Here we are back to your inspirational best. I was already planning what lens to use, where to shoot. Could you follow it up with an on location segment? 😂 I'd love to see you out and about a little... Top stuff.
It is amazing how a long shutter speeds can, on one hand, show all the motion of the subject. On the other hand, slow shutter speeds at the shoreline eliminate the motion of, maybe eliminate the presence of, moving objects.
Very timely video as I've become interested in contrasty, blurry , ethereal ICM style photography and the photographer whose work has really captured my attention is Olga Karlovac. Her stuff may not be for everyone but if you are interested in this subject I highly recommend checking her out.
I love the style. Nowadays, it is all about megapixels and sharpness. It is kinda reductionist from my perspective. My personal attemtps were not successfull. I guess I should try more. Thx for the video!
Back when Nikon used to make rangefinder cameras, they elected to use focal plane shutters, instead of leaf shutters, like everyone else. They soon discovered that if you left the camera out in the sun, the sun would burn a hole in the cloth of the focal lane shutter. That is when Nikon switched to making metal focal plane shutters. A choice that they continued when they started making SLR cameras.
There is a difference between a photo that is motion blurred and a photo that has been under long exposure. An entire photo that has motion blur in MHO is annoying to look at. A photo that has been a long exposure has solid defined objects with a subject of the long exposure blurred. I prefer and have done long exposure photography for many years.
My simple Canon 650D can take pics in light levels too low for my eyes but reveals details i'd need a torch or flash to see. But thats not unusual. Back in the film days, film used to show details underwater in geothermal pools that my eyes couldn't see Astrophotographers of old used to freeze their film as it was more sensitive but also brittle; years back in the polar regions, film leaders would snap off inside the cassette even when under my down ovetcoat 😂😢
I like your inspitations and explanations ... but on one point I disagree. The planned kind of movement causing blury ... I like to find these picturing scenes of time passing by in nature or streets as a mental training to focus on some wasi sabi ...
James popsys has been talking about how he wants to take pictures exclusively the way we see, I completely disagree with this idea I take picture to see what my eyes can’t see.
One more technique worth mentioning is the rear curtain flash. Set your shutter speed long enough to capture the blurry motion, and then at the end of the exposure have a quick, subtle burst of flash to freeze the object. When done correctly it creates amazing semi abstract images, where you can see the smudgy moves, but then a part of the image is sharp and recognisable. Works great with dancers, even better when they have lights or reflective elements on their clothing.
One area where slow shutters/blurry motion can work really well is in sports photography (which I guess was also illustrated by the opening rodeo images). It can be really fun to shoot something like athletics where you keep the face in focus but blur the bejebus out of the moving feet and hands. Can serve to illustrate so much - speed, power, focus, effort - some of those things that are the key to sporting performance.
What a great video and novel concept. In a world where we view the camera as a tool to capture our perceived reality, Alex has (rightly) promoted it as being able to go far beyond that limitation.
There is so much that photography can offer if we choose to think outside of the frame.......... thanks for the inspiration Alex!!!!
Great vid. Slow shutter speeds and motion blur was one of things that excited me most when I first got into photography. Been wanting to play around with it again, so thanks for the inspo :)
3:23 What a stunning image, this is art!!! I use long exposure to create lightrail in my cityscapes, because I love the effect. Thank you for showing all the other possibilities, in this video!
I love your channel! It is so inspiring to watch. Thank you!
Nice to See this Episode. That was exactly my subject for the Last month before the Frost. I went Out in the morning and looked for very much textured and colorful dalias here in my garden. All I Had to do is Take my Macro get Close and shoot at 1/8 of a second thereby shaking the camera. I got explosions of color and form and I really enjoyed the whole process! Now I'm storing my tubers for next years garden photo sessions thinking about what expressive multi color dalias I still need to get for even more exiting pictures.
some great food for thought here Alex.....have started collecting gum leaves of various colours and was thinking of having them falling in front of the lens backlit (ISM...or intentional subject moving :))...or even go one step further and combine it with ICM or double exposure....there's so much to try :)
That's light painting and can be a lot of fun. You can make people look ghostly or disappear altogether. ❤
Inspirational stuff once again Alex. Thanks.
Thank you for another awesome amazing and inspiring video.
As RUclips is typically just a massive ocean of gear reviews coming to your channel is such a refreshing breath of sophisticated yet simple ideas that can produce super unique results.
You truly are an awesome source of inspiration.
Thank you.
Glad to see Hiroshi Sugimoto get a mention, inspired by his work I went out into the city a few weeks ago with the intention of taking blurred photos. I was happy with the results, it's great to experiment.
I love slow shutter images and I love making them. You're right, it's not something we can see with our own eyes
Hi Alex, i really enjoyed this video and it is good to experiment with our photography. I liked the photos from Chris McCaw, he has his own style. I photographed a Plane at F/16 which is unheard of. It was a Bright sunny day with a blue Sky. I experimented and got good results. Many thanks Alex 😊
Great inspiration, this concept of capturing movement is something I've been exploring in my Motorsport photography, I call it seeing speed, as the perfect panning images never quite convinced what your senses were being attacked with.
Recently I have been chasing the Aurora Australas, visually where I live, I can at times see sutle hints of colour, but more likely shades of grey. The camera however captures the colours, my settings are ISO 100, Wide open aperture and I adjust the exposure time generally from 8-15 secs, depending on the lens I am using and the colour are amazing.
Your enthusiasm sparks over!
I blew through several rolls of film at a bicycle race back in the 90s. I tried all sorts of camera speeds and apertures to see what the effects would be. I learned a lot about my camera that day.
I was thinking the other day how the camera can see and record light trails, that we don't often perceive. What if we did, we'd be seeing blurry all the time. :) Great video, lots of inspiration!
Thank you! This is the inspiration I needed to pull out of a little slump. I love adding motion to a static frame, it can be so cool
I think I'm as excited as you! I paused the video after seeing one of the images you showed of the sun's arc and began wondering if I had enough neutral density in the house to take a 4 or 8 hour exposure with a properly exposed foreground and the sun's arc during that time. I do some solar photography so I have some of those filters around. I have the R6 upstairs right now eating away at a 1 hour test exposure to see if I can even get in the ball park. Its cloudy today so no sun but maybe I'll post it to the FB group if anything turns up. Cheers!
I'm a newbie who's still figuring out my niche, but am drawn to abstract. I really felt inspired by this video and am thinking of joining your Photographic Eye community. What level to folks in the community tend to be at?
I can't quite bring myself to deliberately take blurry photos, as holding the camera steady was drummed in to me from the start, a long time ago. Having said that I'm happy with panning, and longer exposures of things like moving water, or a person or vehicle moving through a scene, although I try to keep the surroundings sharp.
Perhaps it's time for this old dog to try new tricks! Interesting and informative video, as usual.
As a deep space imager, I must say the surprise of the subject revealed is really nice.
More great ideas to try!!
Great presentation, thank you! Some of the works by Hiroshi Sugimoto remind me of the “Are Bure Boke” photography of 5 Japanese photographers that contribute to the 3 issues in 1968/1969 of “Provoke” magazine.
Wow. I feel you've been a little off point recently. Here we are back to your inspirational best. I was already planning what lens to use, where to shoot. Could you follow it up with an on location segment? 😂 I'd love to see you out and about a little... Top stuff.
I love ICM!
Ernst Haas is an inspiration....when Kodak stopped production of K25, he filled several freezers with all the film he could lay his hands on ;)
Nice tutorial. Quite helpful and thoughtful.
It is amazing how a long shutter speeds can, on one hand, show all the motion of the subject.
On the other hand, slow shutter speeds at the shoreline eliminate the motion of, maybe eliminate the presence of, moving objects.
Thanks!
Very timely video as I've become interested in contrasty, blurry , ethereal ICM style photography and the photographer whose work has really captured my attention is Olga Karlovac. Her stuff may not be for everyone but if you are interested in this subject I highly recommend checking her out.
where can you find the work of Hal Eastman?If possible could you possibly share the link.Thanks.
informative video
Reminds me of the trails from some strong LSD... so I've been told. 😉
I love the style. Nowadays, it is all about megapixels and sharpness. It is kinda reductionist from my perspective. My personal attemtps were not successfull. I guess I should try more. Thx for the video!
I met Joyce in 2006, interesting person. She was kind of quiet, and wasn't much for conversation, or talking about her work.
Back when Nikon used to make rangefinder cameras, they elected to use focal plane shutters, instead of leaf shutters, like everyone else. They soon discovered that if you left the camera out in the sun, the sun would burn a hole in the cloth of the focal lane shutter. That is when Nikon switched to making metal focal plane shutters. A choice that they continued when they started making SLR cameras.
Leica used cloth shutters too. I shouldn't leave those in the sun.
Lartigue, Jacques-Henri - The Grand Prix of the A.C.F [1913]
There is a difference between a photo that is motion blurred and a photo that has been under long exposure. An entire photo that has motion blur in MHO is annoying to look at. A photo that has been a long exposure has solid defined objects with a subject of the long exposure blurred. I prefer and have done long exposure photography for many years.
My simple Canon 650D can take pics in light levels too low for my eyes but reveals details i'd need a torch or flash to see. But thats not unusual.
Back in the film days, film used to show details underwater in geothermal pools that my eyes couldn't see
Astrophotographers of old used to freeze their film as it was more sensitive but also brittle; years back in the polar regions, film leaders would snap off inside the cassette even when under my down ovetcoat 😂😢
I like your inspitations and explanations ... but on one point I disagree. The planned kind of movement causing blury ... I like to find these picturing scenes of time passing by in nature or streets as a mental training to focus on some wasi sabi ...
James popsys has been talking about how he wants to take pictures exclusively the way we see, I completely disagree with this idea I take picture to see what my eyes can’t see.