Spring Forest

Here's my latest panning blur image, a detail of an aspen forest at sunset made this last weekend. This is a truly magical spot, due to the layering and color available in the undergrowth. It seems to work well for this type of impressionistic photograph. Your thoughts?

Unlike some of my others posted, the effect was created completely in-camera.

Details: 1dsIII, 100-400mm at 260mm, f/40, 2 seconds.
(For once, diffraction is a plus!)

I really like the pastel colors. Your blur technique has produced some beautiful images.

This is superb, Jesse. Absolutely gorgeous. Would love to know more about this technique.

Awesome Jesse! Another beauty. I think you are really refining this panning technique process. I also think I like this one the most so far. Although the panning abstracts you created in PS were really nice as well. Keep up the good work!

Thanks guys.

Bret, this stuff is a lot of fun - and the technique has been around for about a century or so (that I know of). Long exposure + jiggle the camera = images like what you see here. That's a simple way to put it. The image above involved simple up/down movement during exposure. I'm finding this technique much more appealing/rewarding than computer manipulation.

William Neill recently wrote an article about the technique for OP. It's worth a read ...
http://www.williamneill.com/

I love this! The only thing I'd like more is to see it in a large print!!

Jesse, just curious, do you also have a "steady" shot of this so we can see the difference?

Very eye catching and unique image!

This is the best I've seen using the motion technique ~ helped a great deal by soft light and beautiful greens on the forest carpet. Magic!

Hey Jesse - this is really a gorgeous image and a great example of the technique. And thanks for posting the link to Bill Neill's article; he's done lots of this kind of work.

I agree with you that this is much more fun than computer manipulation! The spontaneity produces unexpected results, some of which would be *very difficult* to create any other way.

And not to hijack your thread , but for anyone who wants to see more examples of this technique, I have several collections on my site, too:

http://nathanielcoalson.com/photographs/imp_nature_2/
http://nathanielcoalson.com/photographs/impressionistic_nature/

Great image Jesse. Finding the right light and contrast between trees and undergrowth is important in an image like this and you found a great spot to grab this image. Congrats!

Tony, I don't have a steady shot of this comp, but here's something close - in different light, several feet away and at a different focal length. It's easy enough to pick out the similar elements.

These are both shot from my car window, hand-held. Why? 20 yards off to my right in a gully, a bear was tearing up a downed log. No tripod shooting for me on this evening.

Hijacking is what community forums are for Nat, IMO. Excellent portfolio! I hadn't seen those before - and haven't viewed your website in awhile. Now I'm even more inspired.

Dang! I love that diffraction at f/40 !
Great work - keeps getting better.

You're on to something with this technique, Jesse. This one is absolutely gorgeous. I'd think that interior designers would be very interested in this type of work, and it's very easy to imagine a few of these being hung side by side in a large display. Seems easier to create a harmonious display of multiple images with these types of impressionistic techniques as opposed to the more "realistic" presentation of a traditional photograph.

Beautiful work, Jesse. Thanks for sharing how you did it.

Michael Orton has a great book showing various techniques. It was written before digital photography, but the techniques are still applicable.

http://www.librarything.com/work/1654618/book/28928503

Bill

www.speaksimages.com

Bill - great point... for a while this was called the Orton Technique! He used slide sandwiches.

Tony Sweet also has some good film work of this kind, though with digital the "blur" aspect is more pronounced than is the "step" effect.

That's incredibly beautiful - ethereal. Nice work!

Wow, very easy on the eyes, Jesse! Would be interesting to see this as a large print.

A beautiful image jesse. The pastel colors and the effects of the motion really is fantastic. By the way, did you get any shots of the bear?

Harold

Im not a huge fan of blur, although i thought some of your earlier posts were really nice. This one doesnt really register with me as well. I like the unusual depth it creates, and the ghost-forest look is somewhat intriguing. I think the problem i have with this particular shot is that it doesnt really look like Aspen to me, it looks like blurred white lines. Seems like im in the minority...carry on!

This is a fantastic painting-like photograph. Since you gave away the technique, I'll be definitely tempted to try it out sooner or later. Thank you for sharing.

Harold, I did get a shot of the bear, but I haven't processed it yet. Nothing special ... just an "I saw it" shot. I was in f/40 mindset, with polarizer.

Thank you for commenting everyone. These types of image can be very personal, and don't work for everyone.