Use Your Digital
Camera To Capture The Power Of Motion
By Ibarionex R. Perello
There’s power in
movement. While a sharp action image can be dramatic and beautiful,
a blurry photograph that captures the energy of a moment can be equally
as stunning. Blur softens the details of an image and, although normally
we try to avoid this when creating a shot, it becomes an invaluable
tool when interpreting movement. Where fast shutter speeds freeze
action and produce sharp edges and contrast, a slow shutter speed
smoothes and softens details. This creates an emphasis not on the
peak moment, but on the energy, form, tone and color of motion.
Achieving good results with blur has always been a challenge. You
either needed to have a lot of past experience or you had to be prepared
to waste a lot of film. Now with a digital camera, the immediate feedback
of the camera’s LCD lets photographers know whether they got
the shot.
Digital
Advantages
A digital camera’s LCD is a boon to photographers who want to
capture movement using the image blur technique. Simply set a slow
shutter speed, focus on your subject, squeeze the shutter and within
seconds you can view the results on the screen. If the shutter speed
is too fast or too slow, it only takes a moment to make an adjustment
and try again. Gone are those days of waiting anxiously for film to
be processed by the lab to determine whether you were successful.
Start off by setting your camera for the shutter-priority mode and
select a slow shutter speed (1⁄4 to 1⁄15 sec. is a good
place to start). Then take a series of images at faster and slower
shutter speeds and play back the images on the LCD. You quickly can
determine which setting will give the best results. You may even want
to experiment with the different look that various shutter speeds
provide. In shutter-priority, the camera will deliver an accurate
exposure by selecting the aperture, but if it doesn’t, again,
the LCD lets you know.
Panning
Moving the camera with the subject, or panning, is an important technique
when creating blur. The result is an image where the subject is relatively
defined while the background is significantly blurred.
While following the subject with your camera, you depress the shutter
release button as the action moves by. The key factor here is to continue
moving the camera even after the shutter has been released. Abruptly
stopping the motion of the camera will only make your entire image
blurry and won’t allow the subject to stand out from the background.
Lenses that include technology that reduces the impact of camera shake
and vibration are popular for capturing action. These lenses allow
for the use of relatively slower shutter speeds while ensuring a sharp
image, and also offer features that optimize the lenses for panning.
When the stabilization feature is engaged, these lenses compensate
for any movement off of the pan.
Neutral-Density Filters
Neutral-density (ND) filters are simply dark gray optics that reduce
the amount of light reaching the film or sensor without affecting
color. They cut down the light by one or more stops and allow you
to choose slower speeds for blurs, even under bright light.
Available for both D-SLRs and some compact cameras, these filters
attach to the front of a lens using either a filter thread or a special
holder. In both cases, the camera’s auto-exposure system will
automatically compensate for the loss of light.
An ND 8 filter, for example, reduces light by three stops. The Vari-ND
filter from Singh-Ray offers variable neutral density from 1.5 to
10 stops. Hoya offers NDx400 filters that cut down light by nine stops.
Digital Advantages
For a trendy blur effect, try flash. It brings more definition to
your subject while complementing the effect created by the blur. The
majority of the image still will be blurred, but a portion of the
subject will be frozen from the flash and offers an interesting dynamic
to the image. As you use slow shutter speeds, you won’t need
to be concerned with flash sync speeds.
From panning to filters to flash, these blur techniques will help
you to capture the thrill and energy of our active world.
