Hi everyone... tx for voting for my collage for the last camera settings challenge... i thought i would take a deep breath and volunteer to host this next one, although I am the first to admit that i am still learning myself...
so...
Do some of the camera settings intimidate you? Do you want to learn how to develop your photography skills and learn how to use your camera effectively without always going back to the “auto” function? These challenges are for you!
This challenge is motion blur... "motion blur" is the "apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single frame, either due to rapid movement or long exposure." (definition purloined from @orangecrush 's explanation for the one night stand challenge)...
Basically the trick is to set the shutterspeed such that you capture the image of an object (or person!) in motion... different things move at different speeds, so choosing your shutterspeed to capture motion blur will require some trial and error...
-- if your subject is moving slowly, a shutterspeed that is too fast probably won't capture their movement...
-- if your subject is moving quickly, a shutterspeed that is too slow might not capture them at all ;D
here is an example to help illustrate the second point... i've included my shutterspeed in the images - the steaky lines on the top image is my boy zooming by to fast for the 0.3 second shutterspeed to really capture...
there are many motion blur shots on 365... here are a few examples... and if you click on the tag "motion blur" it will take you to many more...
this one is by @humphreyhippo http://365project.org/humphreyhippo/365/2012-11-30
here's one by @sparkle http://365project.org/sparkle/365/2012-12-06
and one by @ltodd http://365project.org/ltodd/extras/2013-02-15
one thing to bear in mind with this challenge is that you may need to use a smaller aperture in order to avoid overexposing your motion blur shot if you are working in very bright light... i used my ND filter for the shots in the above collage... i had the camera set on f/22, f/10 and f/8 respectively for the three images...
here are a couple links that you may find useful:
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-capture-motion-blur-in-photography
http://www.lightstalking.com/motion-blur-guide
Experienced photographers who are knowledgeable in this particular setting are encouraged to offer “kind and constructive” suggestions on the posted entries. Those entering this challenge want to learn and improve.
This challenge starts today, Sunday March 24th and will run until Thursday, April 4th at 12:00pm Central Standard Time (17:00 Zulu time http://www.zulutime.net). All photos must be taken during these dates to be considered. Enter as many as you would like- the idea is to practice & learn. TAG YOUR PHOTO CSC-23 AND post your picture in this thread to receive feedback from other experienced photographers specific to this challenge.
Expect to receive constructive suggests on how to improve your skills.
How to post your photo on this link:
1) Go to your page that has the photo you wish to post.
2) Copy the “share” code in the bottom right section of that page.
3) Return to this thread and paste the code under comments
@mej2011@northy
Melissa, haha, it may seem like that but because she keeps winning the challenges with her great photography.
Northy I am so glad you picked this one since this is a great challenge for both newbies to the manual settings and a great challenge to the more experienced as well. Thank you, thank you for hosting this. I know you are still learning that is why you are so good. If you stop learning your photography will show it, we are always learning, but I think you are at a point you have a lot of skills and knowledge to share.
@northy I have one question. When you do those fantastic street shots and you get some people focused and the motion blur or a bit of a trail of a person for best results do you put your lens on manual focus or focus on something with the auto focus. Which do you prefer.
Kathy - about the focus thing... MOST of the time i just use auto-focus...
i can't focus manually at all (my eyes are crap and it would take me forever to get it right which of course wouldn't work for street)...
Occasionally i will autofocus on a specific item in a backdrop i have chosen and then lock in that focus... for example, i will do this for the busker shots on busy streets because people will come between me and where i want the focus to be and mess things up if i'm using autofocus (i would have done that for the spidey shot http://365project.org/northy/365/2012-06-14 )
i will also do it if i want the subject who is moving across my plane of sight (is that the right term?) to be "in focus" as it were, but the field of view is deep, especially if the light is low and so i am using a comparatively large aperture... of course i can't find an example of this right now, but i know i've done this...
@myhrhelper Hi Kathy - as Northy says - either manual or auto-focus focus will work - but it might be good to not use fully auto settings on your camera so you can fix your camera's focus point and this will let you capture a context and provide contrast to the motion blur - for example in the lowest shot of Northy's collage above, the camera's focus point would be moved off centre of the shot to the boys legs (the key static element) and not the wall.
So motion blur vs panning is that in motion blur the main subject is sort of in motion (blurry) and in panning the subject is crisp and the background is a bit blurry?
i would say for motion blur, the backdrop is stationary, but the subject (or a key component of the subject) is in motion... ie: the kid on the skateboard in my shot, the jogger in the above shot, one leg from each dancer in Lyn's shot (from link above)...
in panning, you work to keep the moving subject in focus which results in blurring the background... i think this may technically be considered a form of motion blur, altho' a totally different skill set from the point of view of camera settings
I think I get the idea. I took this one last week so it won't work for the contest but I'm quite pleased with it. It will be interesting to see if I can manage to come up with a motion blur now.
@northy I wanted to clarify what you are looking for with this setting challenge.
The camera should be stationary not moving across the subject but the subject moves instead, right? @aprilmilani For this photo it is more of a camera movement although a beautiful shot, correct or are you looking for either?
I can't wait to try some of these. You seem to do a lot of these type of shots and I love them. My Get-Pushed challenge this week is B&W SOOC so I will combine this challenge and the get-pushed, hopefully.
@myhrhelper yes... i am thinking motion blur where the camera is stationary and most of the image is static with one component in motion, depicting motion blur... so not panning or ICM (intentional camera movement) - altho' both of these are an art in their own right :)
@smithak yep! you've got that car zooming thru! have you thought about playing with shutterspeed? seeing what happens when you use a slightly faster or slower shutter to see what sort of different effects you get?
@aprilmilani that's quite lovely... i am guessing you kept the camera still, but moved the flower around... but like @myhrhelper said, i was thinking more of where the subject appears to be moving in relation to the background giving that sense of motion, rather than an abstract feel...
@espyetta these are quite wild looking! you've ended up with a cool and somewhat horror-movie effect ;p i think i like the first one the best because the eyes of the dog on the left are quite in focus, giving him a rather rabid air... you might want to experiment with varying shutter speeds to see how they change the end result... :)
@aponi hey Kathryn - that's a very cool panning shot... for this challenge, tho', the idea is to do the opposite... keep the background still and capture motion in the main subject... it's not as difficult as it sounds and it can be lots of fun experimenting with the settings to see what you come up with :)
Ok eventually the trolley driver is going to think I'm planning a heist or something but I got this one from close to the same spot as my panning shot. I need to do this with a tripod though, it looks a bit drunken.
@northy yes....our only snow we've had! We have not had any snow since winter of 2011 when we got ice and them snow and missed a week of school. Maybe next winter...and maybe I will have a macro lens and a better way to shoot a flake.
@aponi they were so gently playing you would not believe it. One do the daddy of the other...and they just barely open mouths and play like this...it is quiet and actually peaceful to watch and hear them. It looks so viscous though!
@northy I agree that the first one, with dog on left's eyes and teeth in focus is my favorite. I have Shutter App for Iphone so I can try other settings for that. But won't be if the dogs though...I won't see them for a while. :0(
My shit for this motion blur today was with my DSLR, not the iPhone. (Snow trails)
@mara19500 those are coming along nicely Mara! now that you have the idea down, you might want to think about how you might want to use it... think about someone throwing a ball to someone else? or a kid rolling a toy car across the floor? also, i noticed that you had been shooting light trails... not quite the kind of motion blur i had in mind for this challenge, but lots of fun to play with... you might want to try with a smaller aperture (eg: f/11 or f/14 or even f/22) and a longer exposure and see what kind of effect you get...
@northy Thank you for your criitique and suggestions. That's what I needed to know, what other field to esperiment and technical advice. I will try somehing different now and will submit it here.
You are doing a great job, Northy, Thanks for your patience and dedication!
@espyetta My dog has a little buddy who lives a couple of doors down. She comes over to play all the time, we call this the whose mouth is bigger game. They've been trying to resolve it for some time, like your guys it looks rather vicious but they don't actually hurt each other.
I took it today (but used a spare space on March 25 on my second album). I tried to shoot in daylight and changed setting. Still not very satisfied...I'll keep trying...
@northy Thank you for all the info you supplied with this challenge. I felt like I "saw the light" when you discussed the issue of using a smaller aperature to prevent overexposure.
Here's what I managed to shoot today. I welcome any suggestions and comments, I still have so much to learn about this technique.
@mara19500 hey Mara... i think you're starting to get the hang of it... yes - keep experimenting... and think about what settings you're using for the different subjects...
Not at all what Northy (@northy) described as a moving object against a stationary backbround, but I did manage to "stop" the forward motion of the chopper, but yet get a little motion in the main and rear rotors against this now "stationary" aircraft. Since I am panning with the action, I could probably back off the shutter one or even two more stops to get more rotor blur, but needless to say the chopper didn't wait around for me to try again!
Thank you Northy for hosting this challenge!!
Here is my try at it. I did do some layering of photos (as you can tell).
I will be playing with these settings much more.
I found this difficult. This is the best of about 30 shots (got some funny looks, and people stopping so as not to get into the shot! If they only knew) My problem was that the moving people disappeard to barely visible due to blur. I guess this is because they are not in the same place long enough to be exposed on the sensor but how do i fix it?
@masosy haha love this! Have you added any post production blur or is it so clear becauee it is on a black background?
@btorrey They are FAST! I kept having to bump up the shutter speed in order to have part of the bird in focus. On another note, the lens I was using is SLOW, so I had better luck using manual focus.
@gwhit123 I did do some editing: brought up the blacks, sharpened , cloned out crumbs on the table and dust on the red gums, and probably a few other minor tweaks I can't remember. However, increasing the blacks had the most impact on the blur and certainly made the white blur I managed to capture more noticeable. I used an off camera flash with this shot and I chose the black background after reading this insightful thread below by Brenda T. Schwartz @btorrey. There is a link in the thread to an awesome video that Brenda made, well worth the time to check out.
@frankhymus see - this is a good example where motion blur can provide context... without it, the chopper might look like it was in suspended animation... the subtle blur on the blades makes it clear that this chopper is on the move!
@gwhit123 George... this is a very cool image and an excellent way to use motion blur... did you try a shutter speed of 1/8 or 1/6? i'm actually thinking that the speed you were using was a smidgeon too slow... and the passersby were crossing your field of vision too fast in relation to the shutterspeed to really get caught as anything other than a will-o-wisp...
@smithak hey Smitha... you did pretty good getting that blur with the sun that bright... next time you might try using an aperture of f/16 or even f/22... this will let you get a slower shutterspeed without blowing out the highlights too much... also, if you use a single focus point and focus on the car (or something random in the road that's about the same distance from you as where you expect the main subject to be), that should help you get the auto-focus to work as well...
@northy Thanks Northy! I hope you are satisfied: under your guidance I finally managed to take a decent motion blur shot. Now I'm beginning to understand how it works and will keep trying. :))
@masosy very nicely done! so cool to see the contrast between the watcher and the jumper... and yeah, i love the control you get with manual setting... :)
As it so happens, this weeks topic in photography class was setting shutter speed to stop motion, or to blur it. My instructor had mentioned, how if she is bored or finding herself with time to kill, she starts taking pictures. I happened to be a passenger while my son was driving and thought it might be a good opportunity to goof around and see what I could get. It was around twilight and the light was really great so I gave it a shot at various long exposure settings.
@dtigani oh yes! that would be a good one for motion blur... especially with having a kid right in the middle or standing off the twirly thing to see in comparison to those hanging on at the edges!
@wenbow interesting and cool effect Wendy... this is one where i would be experimenting with shutterspeed with a view to getting one where the main subject is a bit more recognizable, but still clearly in motion... so a faster shutterspeed (altho' i couldn't hazard a guess as to what it should be!)
@Cheesebiscuit oh yes - cyclists in motion make for fabulous motion blur... just durn'em for not following the traffic laws! train shots make for wonderful motion blur shots as well... now you need to take one with some people standing still waiting at the station :)
Have "wasted" the best part of an hour trying to capture a spinning coin for this challenge. They were either too blurred or too sharp ... finally settled on this one after identifying the best combination was f8.0 @ 1/25
Was working on trying to get a partial motion blur keeping the camera still and found I just couldn't get the right combination of shutter speed and focus. Tried some panning shots and managed to get what I was after. So I got a panning shot with the background blurred and a partial blurred motion shot all in one!
My get-pushed challenge this week is actually panning but I managed to get some motion blur on the cyclist's legs as well so I thought I'd tag it for the motion blur challenge as well.
@alceyone hmmm... next time you try with flash maybe try reducing the exposure compensation (i think that's what it's called - basically having flash go off on lower power)... anyway, i like the shot as it is - just thought i'd mention that thing about the flash to try :)
This is one setting I'm going to work on some more after the challenge is over. I may tag you to get feedback. While I feel I'm pretty good at getting blur when I'm concentrating on one subject but what I need to work on is really capturing awesome composition such as your shots. I love your advice (think it is one of the big secrets) is to capture something that is not blurred as well. I love love love your people shots when you do that. I'm hoping that once the weather gets better and I see more people events I can practice this. Thank you so much for teaching this. Also, with the new technique challenge that just started Darja is concentrating on motion blur. Please feel free to offer any tips on that page as well. I think this techniques is one of your signatures.
@myhrhelper tx Kathy... i have to confess that i discovered it completely by accident before i understood camera settings in any meaningful way... and then i set to work to figure out what i needed to do to take control of it and use it... @sparkle does some really really awesome motion blur shots, by the way...
@l2lumom i think the second one came out nicely with the panning / motion blur combo... btw, i almost never use a tripod for motion blur shots... generally i am shooting street and a tripod would be hugely limiting... i can usually handle down to 1/20 or 1/15 handheld as long as it isn't a close up or macro... and i've managed down to 1/6 i think, altho' i wasn't overly happy with the clarity of focus...
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@myhrhelper - hope i did this right! please let me know if anything needs work :)
Just curious, are you hosting EVERY challenge on 365? lol. You're a very busy person.
fantastic
Melissa, haha, it may seem like that but because she keeps winning the challenges with her great photography.
Northy I am so glad you picked this one since this is a great challenge for both newbies to the manual settings and a great challenge to the more experienced as well. Thank you, thank you for hosting this. I know you are still learning that is why you are so good. If you stop learning your photography will show it, we are always learning, but I think you are at a point you have a lot of skills and knowledge to share.
Kathy - about the focus thing... MOST of the time i just use auto-focus...
i can't focus manually at all (my eyes are crap and it would take me forever to get it right which of course wouldn't work for street)...
Occasionally i will autofocus on a specific item in a backdrop i have chosen and then lock in that focus... for example, i will do this for the busker shots on busy streets because people will come between me and where i want the focus to be and mess things up if i'm using autofocus (i would have done that for the spidey shot http://365project.org/northy/365/2012-06-14 )
i will also do it if i want the subject who is moving across my plane of sight (is that the right term?) to be "in focus" as it were, but the field of view is deep, especially if the light is low and so i am using a comparatively large aperture... of course i can't find an example of this right now, but i know i've done this...
i would say for motion blur, the backdrop is stationary, but the subject (or a key component of the subject) is in motion... ie: the kid on the skateboard in my shot, the jogger in the above shot, one leg from each dancer in Lyn's shot (from link above)...
in panning, you work to keep the moving subject in focus which results in blurring the background... i think this may technically be considered a form of motion blur, altho' a totally different skill set from the point of view of camera settings
Camera:
Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Exposure:
1 sec (1/1)
Aperture:
f/4.5
ISO Speed:
400
Focal Length:
60 mm
The camera should be stationary not moving across the subject but the subject moves instead, right? @aprilmilani For this photo it is more of a camera movement although a beautiful shot, correct or are you looking for either?
I can't wait to try some of these. You seem to do a lot of these type of shots and I love them. My Get-Pushed challenge this week is B&W SOOC so I will combine this challenge and the get-pushed, hopefully.
My shit for this motion blur today was with my DSLR, not the iPhone. (Snow trails)
You are doing a great job, Northy, Thanks for your patience and dedication!
Here's what I managed to shoot today. I welcome any suggestions and comments, I still have so much to learn about this technique.
Here is my try at it. I did do some layering of photos (as you can tell).
I will be playing with these settings much more.
I found this difficult. This is the best of about 30 shots (got some funny looks, and people stopping so as not to get into the shot! If they only knew) My problem was that the moving people disappeard to barely visible due to blur. I guess this is because they are not in the same place long enough to be exposed on the sensor but how do i fix it?
@masosy haha love this! Have you added any post production blur or is it so clear becauee it is on a black background?
http://365project.org/discuss/tips-n-tricks/14582/motion-blur-tutorial
Another attempt, different settings. Comments appreciated
As it so happens, this weeks topic in photography class was setting shutter speed to stop motion, or to blur it. My instructor had mentioned, how if she is bored or finding herself with time to kill, she starts taking pictures. I happened to be a passenger while my son was driving and thought it might be a good opportunity to goof around and see what I could get. It was around twilight and the light was really great so I gave it a shot at various long exposure settings.
And if I ever get hold of this cyclist, he'll be bodybagged!
Blighter jumped the lights, and caught me off guard!
Was working on trying to get a partial motion blur keeping the camera still and found I just couldn't get the right combination of shutter speed and focus. Tried some panning shots and managed to get what I was after. So I got a panning shot with the background blurred and a partial blurred motion shot all in one!
My get-pushed challenge this week is actually panning but I managed to get some motion blur on the cyclist's legs as well so I thought I'd tag it for the motion blur challenge as well.