For those of you who have been following my Blog you will know I have been looking at motion Blur to create abstract images. After a shoot around Chester City Center yesterday (with some other photographers) capturing the after Christmas bargain hunters. I thought it would be useful to detail here what worked and what didn't work so well.
The first image (below) I personally think worked well, the camera was rested on handrail to steady it and the exposure was 0.3 Sec at F14 with a 16-35mmm zoom at 35mm. The focus was close to affinity and at F14 most that was static is fairly sharp. The shoppers due to their movements and also proximately to the camera are nice and blurred allowing this to easily used as a stock image, and capturing the hustle and bustle of the day. 
This next image (below) is for me a "not to do" shot, although possibly amusing the shutter speed of 1 second was obviously too long as the motion of the shoppers has almost made them invisible,such as the man in the foreground or the small pair of red wellingtons with the the rest of the child missing. If the shutter speed was increased to say 5 seconds the shoppers would be almost completely invisible unless someone stopped walking, which could be useful if the purpose unlike here was on the emphasis of the building rather than the people.
The final image (below) to me works very well this was shot at 0.3 secs like the first image with the same lens and aperture but panned in the direction that most of the shoppers where walking, the result is some of the the shoppers most closely matched in speed to the panning camera, are clearly visible but the general blur still shows there is movement in the image, and for me the shop lighting gives added affect, which benefits from the fact that there was low outdoor lighting.
Labels: marc byram photography tips how to abstract images motion blur
