Experimental photography techniques

Daniel Edwards

Motion blur

Motion blur photography is a technique used primarily to bring speed, momentum and velocity to the forefront of an image.To achieve motion blur in your photography, the first thing you need to do is protract your shutter speed. The image sensor needs enough time to distinguish the movement in your photograph, and by prolonging the time in between the shutter opening and closing, you are allowing for more movement to be seen by the sensor.

The best may to perform motion blur photography and still retain a clean image is to keep your camera still throughout the process. This allows for only the movement of what is being seen by the image sensor to have the desired effect on your photograph. This doesn’t mean you cannot capture movement by moving the camera whilst the shutter is opening and closing, as this can work very well, but to achieve maximum potential with this photography technique having your camera secured and held in place is advised.

What is also advised is that you use shutter priority mode when practicing this technique. Using shutter priority mode permits you to select your desired shutter speed whilst the camera sorts out settings like aperture on its own. Although you still can, without using shutter priority mode there is a larger chance that you can overexpose your image.

Motion blur photography works best when done in a dark environment, preferably at night. If you are wanting to take an image in the day time, or in a place that is heavily lit, there are ways to still complete your image.

Using shutter priority mode will create a smaller aperture, but by decreasing your ISO, and thus making the image sensor less sensitive to light. This means you are lessening the chance that the image will overexpose whilst performing with prolonged shutter speeds.

Double exposure

Double exposure is a photographic technique used to develop surreal, dreamlike effects. It is quite simply a photograph within a photograph.

If you have the use of a darkroom, the process can be performed without Photoshop. You can stack two negatives on top of one another, and therefore expose them both at the same time. Using Photoshop to create the effect superficially you can come out with much more clean and defined images.

A lot of modern DSLR’s actually have a multiple exposure setting, so you can perform this technique on the go. You can watch a tutorial that offers an in-depth guide of how to achieve this finish here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2lHQJFJ-nc

The most popular form of double exposure photography is to have a single person’s upper body in the centre of the photograph, with some kind of spacious area stacked on top, and kept within the boundaries of the subjects figure. You can truly include stack any two images though, whether it’s a storm-filled sky and a lion, the London Eye and an iPhone, or yourself and the Eiffel tower (as above). You aren’t limited to just two exposures though, and performing multiple exposures is becoming more and more popular as technology develops and photographers are able to perform this technique with greater ease.

High-dynamic-range (HDR)

High-dynamic-range (HDR) is a photography technique used to give a photograph a hyper-realistic, excessive feel. High-dynamic-range images accurately portray the range of intensity levels seen in real life. These means you can see brightly lit areas more clearly, and can also detail in what’s hidden within shadows.

By capturing multiple photographs at diverse exposure levels, HDR then merges them to produce a photograph that offers a greater tonal range. Photographers often take 5 different photographs at different ISO levels to make sure they can get a greater variety of image to merge.

The capturing of the different shots is often called ‘bracketing’, and after completing this process the easiest place to combine the images to create the HDR effect is in Photoshop.

To get the best results when attempting high-dynamic-range photography, a good tip is to make use of natural shadows. These shadows can end up giving your image a more surreal feel that adds to the overall atmosphere of the image.