Making “Motion” Pictures

Copying the idea of movement in a still image is not difficult, but can be very interesting and effective. We discuss a few simple techniques.

Longer exposures can be both a creative and logistical advantage to the photographer, either for recording movement effects the human eye only perceives but doesn?t actually see ? or for allowing more detail to be captured on film or by the camera?s digital sensor. This is especially true at dusk or nightfall when a tripod mounted SLR can capture the movement of cars in a cityscape or the swirling of stars as the earth moves beneath them over a period of hours. Where moving objects are seen in relation to stable, non-moving objects the perception of time and motion is conveyed very effectively. Try doing this with people in a scene, rides at a fairground, waves over rocks. There are many opportunities for this kind of photograph.

The reverse is true of course with faster shutter speeds ? that is to say shutter speeds of say 1/1000th of a second or faster. Moving objects are frozen in time in a way not seen by the human eye. Sporting and athletic events, birds in flight, water in motion and many other things can be captured in an interesting way using very fast shutter speeds. In this way, motion is captured in a manner that we are not used to seeing with the naked eye and is therefore more captivating.

Creating Motion with Flash

Combining the lightning fast time of your flash with various shutter speeds is a fabulous plaything. While your camera will no doubt have a preferred synchronisation speed, it must be remembered that this is the fastest speed your camera will allow to synchronise. It doesn?t mean you can?t use slower ones, does it? So, anything slower than your synchronisation speed is entirely up to you!

You can combine the suggestion of both motion blur and sharpness simultaneously in an image. Rear curtain flash synchronisation is a technique long used to create this visual idea. This is much the same as Night Mode in a compact digital camera. Many camera/flash combinations allow you to do this and it is notdifficult to master. By setting your camera to fire the flash at the end of the exposure instead of at the beginning, your subjects will be both blurred by their own movement during the exposure, and then frozen by the flash at the end. This is done on some cameras by setting the flash setting to ?Rear? or ?Slow?. A little bit of experimentation is needed because each situation is different. However, your shutter speed should be slow enough to capture both the movement of your subject and enough ambient light for detail and context. However, enough exposure should also be allowed for the motion freezing effect of the flash. It can be a fine balance sometimes.

Panning and Shooting

Moving the camera in concert with your subject can be a very effective means of conveying motion. It can really only be effective when your subject is travelling across the scene and not toward or away from you and it takes a bit of trial and error to perfect. This is because there are a few variables involved. One is how fast the subject is travelling across the scene. Another is how far away you are and what lens you are using to capture the subject as a result.

The great advantage with shooting digitally is that you can perfect the trial and error process often while shooting. Seeing results immediately will give you an immediate frame of reference.In essence, the idea is to focus on the subject and actually move the camera in concert with your subject while shooting. The idea is to keep your subject in the same part of the frame and blur the background. If you are close to the subject, you can even use flash to heighten the effect as we have discussed. This is effective in street photography at night with passing vehicles.

Photographs are supposed to be ?still images? and the idea of conveying motion and movement within them is intriguing, making your images more exciting and interesting.

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