Motion Photography

May 24, 2009 in Articles about Photography, Motion Photography
Tags: photo competition, Photo contest, photography contest, picture contest

Capturing crisp and clear motion in your photo is one of the coolest thing you can do with your camera. In a photo contest, properly conveying a particular motion to the viewer brings great impact. Putting life in a still photo by capturing a magnificent action photo is possible by carefully selecting different shutter speeds and panning to capture motion for photo contests.

Below are some tips that might help you produce stunning motion pictures to add on your album or as your future photography contest entry. I also included some issues you might encounter along the way with solutions to resolve them. But first, one should know that there are several reasons why photographers uses motion capture. In most photography contests, photographers capture motion simply to convey that the subject is moving. Some uses it to communicate mood, like the waves in soft waves in the beach suggests serenity while a busy street in the city implies a rush hour. In a rare case, motion can also be used to blur other elements in the photo except the subject to eliminate distractions so viewers can focus more in the subject.

Two Ways in Capturing Motion

Your shutter speed will play a vital role for capturing motion. In photo competitions, a fast shutter speed will result to a sharper focus on the subject while a slow shutter speed will blur moving objects.

1. Background Focusing by Blurring the Subject

This kind of approach is perfect for fast moving subject like a speeding car with a dazzling mountain on the background. You can do this by using a slow shutter speed with a tripod to keep the camera steady. To make it look even more prettier try doing this at night, you will notice the car headlights cutting through the image.

2. Subject Focusing by Blurring the Background

This time you will need to maintain focus in your subject while blurring the background. Using the same method in the first approach, a slow shutter speed will be utilized however, in photo competitions, here you will practice panning the camera.

Panning requires good timing and practice of course. In a picture contest, panning is done by moving your camera along with the directional path of your subject. This could be difficult so you need to invest some time to practice with fast moving subject like atheletes. Try to capture their facial expressions while blurring everything in the background. It will take some time to get it right, but once you do, the technique can be a valuable addition to your repertoire.

3. Blur Everything

Imagine a man diving from the top a waterfall both imply motion to viewer. By freezing the entire scene you can give your photo a unique touch especially when the scene strongly suggest motion. Freezing the entire scene captures that motion in a single moment and can produce a breathtaking image. In picture contests, use a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th of a second for this type of shot.

This technique is used entirely for artistic purposes. Blurring everything is best when the scene provides bright, contrasting colors or varying shades on the grayscale.