Thanks again for taking part in our 5th monthly theme, “Flora”. Knowing how many amazing photographs of plants are uploaded each week, we were hoping this month would be bountiful for entries, and you guys certainly didn't disappoint! Check out all the entries here!
As always, you can view the six finalists and vote for a winner below, but first we want to introduce June’s theme - "Movement".
It feels like the past five months has passed us by in a flash, inspiring this month's action-based theme. We'd like to see shots of everything from speed demons, to more serene movements - like bubbles floating in the air - and everything in between!
To help you get started, we've pulled together four tips/techniques to help you sharpen up those reflexes and nail both a fast paced freeze frame and a long exposure capturing life in motion:
1. Fast Paced Freeze Frames
We're jumping straight in with the type of movement that most of us think of first - sports photography. From cars racing round a track, to photo finishes in athletic races, to tennis players leaping mid air to make a hit - capturing those crucial moments makes for impressive work!
With most digital cameras, using fast shutter speeds, multiple (burst) shots and great timing, will have you off to a good start! For more insights check out this blog post from a while back, which runs through some tips about timing, shutter speed, depth of field and lens choice.
Remember, you don't need to be into sports to play with this type of shot. Passing traffic or people and pets playing are also fantastic subjects!
@kiwichick has lots of amazing shots from slalom skiers hurtling downhill!
2. Long Exposure Magic
Some of our favourite photography effects are thanks to long exposure shots, with the help of a trusty tripod! Classic subjects for these beautiful images include waterfalls, lights glowing from traffic moving at nighttime, playing with sparklers in the dark and even a moving night sky!
We also have some handy blog posts to talk you through the process, for both day time long exposures and night time long exposures!
We love this cool example by @spanner!
3. Subtle and Serene
Even when objects are in more gentle motion, it can still pay to use fast-motion settings. To get crisp lines that make an impact against a still background you'll still want to make sure you're lighting, tripod (ideally) and camera settings are all ready before nailing your shot.
Playing indoors with water crowns or smoke from an incense stick is a convenient, low hassle way to experiment and improve your techniques!
We love these shots, by @lynne5477 and @m2016.
4. Moving the Camera - Panning and Zooming
When researching motion techniques a while back we found this cool post by digital-photography-school.com which explains some handy tips around panning when trying to nail sporty shots, as well as cool effects that can be achieved by moving the camera, or zooming, towards something still! If you're looking for new ideas, it's definitely worth a read!
This shot from their post was achieved by photographing some hanging lights in a building lobby, by using a long exposure setting and carefully zooming in while the camera was processing.
Whether you decide to focus on, we hope you have fun experimenting with new ideas and techniques. We can’t wait to check out your entries!
How to enter this month’s theme
When uploading your photos use the tag section (on the edit/organise screen) and insert this week's theme tag: theme-movement.
Entry Guidelines: Photos must be your own and must have been taken and uploaded between Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 30th. 6 finalists will be chosen in the first couple days of July, then you get to vote for the winner in the following month!
Vote for a Winner of May's "Flora" Theme
As always, we loved reviewing your entries for the “Flora” theme and are pleased to see a couple people experimented with the additional challenges and themes we suggested. The only downside is that it was so difficult to choose just 6 finalists, but here they are!
It's now over to you to vote for the Flora theme. To cast your vote, just reply to this blog post with the number (in digit form) of the photo you would like to see win, before June 14th. We’ll announce the winner in a separate post shortly after!
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