Visiting the same pond over and over, and concentrating on the more common, approachable subjects may not sound too interesting, but I really enjoy experimenting with my photography and so for me this is a lot of fun. (Also living in the middle of a city with no car can be very restricting!) I like to emphasise movement in my images, and panning with slow shutterspeeds is one way to do this.
I realise that many of you probably don't like this kind of image, but I thought I'd post it anyway. It's always good to have a bit of debate, and I'd love to hear your opinions!
OK! I'll bite.
Slow shutter speeds can and do create a feeling of movement, but here I think the shutter speed is not slow enough. Mix that with a high viewpoint and all I can see is a blurred photo of a duck that is really not doing a lot. I'd be inclined to use this technique to emphasis when the duck was moving pretty quickly instead of using it to try to put motion into a fairly static subject.
Another way to do it would be to focus on the water and record the moving duck with a slow shutter and static camera instead of trying to pan and get nothing really in focus.
Like that you are trying different techniques and fully appreciate what you where trying to achieve, in this case it does not work for me... I think the combination of elements here are looking a little bit too much like a mistake... for this type of image to work, it is my belief, that an important part of the image appears sharp ( a better word may be defined), perhaps rear curtain sync of a flash.... certainly worth exploring.
BTW nothing at all wrong with 'common' species, I will often go to a local park that has a lake where I can get a low viewpoint, full of hybrids but great fun to shoot, the hard part is to get that 'different', stand out image, you are getting there.
Posted by Magnus Hird on March 12, 2009 at 6:53 PM
The direction is an interesting one and worth following but this isn't quite there yet for me. Needs more movement and blur I think. Look forward to seeing how this develops
Discussion
4 repliesVisiting the same pond over and over, and concentrating on the more common, approachable subjects may not sound too interesting, but I really enjoy experimenting with my photography and so for me this is a lot of fun. (Also living in the middle of a city with no car can be very restricting!) I like to emphasise movement in my images, and panning with slow shutterspeeds is one way to do this.
I realise that many of you probably don't like this kind of image, but I thought I'd post it anyway. It's always good to have a bit of debate, and I'd love to hear your opinions!
techs: 280mm, 1/8th, f20, iso 500
Billy
Slow shutter speeds can and do create a feeling of movement, but here I think the shutter speed is not slow enough. Mix that with a high viewpoint and all I can see is a blurred photo of a duck that is really not doing a lot. I'd be inclined to use this technique to emphasis when the duck was moving pretty quickly instead of using it to try to put motion into a fairly static subject.
Another way to do it would be to focus on the water and record the moving duck with a slow shutter and static camera instead of trying to pan and get nothing really in focus.
Like that you are trying different techniques and fully appreciate what you where trying to achieve, in this case it does not work for me... I think the combination of elements here are looking a little bit too much like a mistake... for this type of image to work, it is my belief, that an important part of the image appears sharp ( a better word may be defined), perhaps rear curtain sync of a flash.... certainly worth exploring.
BTW nothing at all wrong with 'common' species, I will often go to a local park that has a lake where I can get a low viewpoint, full of hybrids but great fun to shoot, the hard part is to get that 'different', stand out image, you are getting there.
Robert.