Fun Blur Technique

This shot doesn't demonstrate the IQ of the 31mm lens used to take it! My 13 year old lead me to the technique while he was doing zoom effect shots in low light. (OK, he was bored while I and shooting buddy were working a tiny waterfall in the Olympic Nat. Forest in WA. He taught himself how to zoom during long shutter speeds for a very nice "exploding" zoom effect). Wanting to do some "blurs" myself but not holding a zoom, I chose the "leg zoom" method...

Conditions were near dark--far darker than the midtone of the image. We played around a bit but found that the best shutter speed for this type of image was 4 seconds to 8 seconds. In the image posted here I composed and focused near the middle of the frame then tripped the shutter and WALKED BACKWARDS fairly briskly while holding the camera relatively still. So the defocus comes from two sources: variable distance to subject and from camera motion.

[Marc Langille]

Oh my... this is possibly the 2nd or third photo post from you!!

Cool effect - so was this from a recent trip?

[Ron Boggs]

Hey Marc,
Actually this is my first photo posted in the photo section (I've posted lots in other sections). Hadn't ever even looked at the photo posts until yesterday. Thought some people might enjoy a strange yet simple technique.

Not a recent trip--note the leaves on the trees. I think this shot was in August, though I went there several times last summer.

[hamidlmt]

Cool! I'm a big fan of motion blur...







Keep on playing!

[Ron Boggs]

Nice spinner! Number 3 is my favorite though. Patterns always get me.