Photography and Motion

EXERCISE -BlurredMovementAssignment: Experiment with variousways of illustrating motion by usingslow shutter speeds.

Goal: Use blurred motion with a clearpurpose and with a clear result. Inother words, try to get a shot in whichthe blur really expresses motion.

Tips: Set your camera at f/16 and1 /15 to start .Once you get going, ex-periment with shutter speeds as low-as 1/8. You'll find the assignmenteasiest on a gray, overcast day, sinceyou don't want too much light. Alter-natively, you might use a neutraldensity f i l ter , which cuts down theamount of light entering the camera.

You may shoot in one of threeways:

1 > Aim your camera so your sub-ject is moving into the frame. Beginfollowing your subject's movementand then release the shut ter . Keepmoving with the subject as the shut-ter opens and closes. This will pro-duce a blurred background with yoursubject more or less "frozen."

2> Mount your camera on atripod or find some other way to holdit very steady. Aim so your subjectis moving into the frame and releasethe shutter. This will produce asteady background with your subjectmoving across the frame as a blur.

3> Attach a zoom lens to yourcamera, then mount it on a tripod orfind some other way to hold it steady.Focus on the subject with the zoomat its maximum focal-length (i.e. 200on a 75-200 zoom). Pu l l back on thezoom lens and immediately releasethe shut ter . This produces a pattern

Student photograph by Jeffrey Parker.

of lines radiating out from yoursubject.

Note tha t you'll have to f indsomething to focus on, or guess thedistance, before your subject movesthrough the frame.

Possible subjects include runners;almost any sports ac t iv i ty ; motor-cycles, bicycles and other vehicles; aperson or a group of people jumping,twirling, swinging, dancing, etc.

Your subject should contrast withthe background (light on dark, dark

on light). If it already blends in, theblur will make it blend even more.

(Note: If you are doing your ownprocessing at this stage, you can in-crease contrast by overdevelopingyour fi lm for 2 minutes and/or usinga high-contrast paper grade 4 or5 for printing.)

134 The Photographic Eye

Student photograph by Charles StuartKennedy III.

Student photograph by Marciano Pitargue, Jr.

Motion 135

Converging lines and an appropriate point of view are the two key ingredients of perspective. (Student photographby Kenneth Griggs.)

136 The Photographic Eye136 The Photographic Eye