Forest Path, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Created in-camera by moving the camera during the exposure.)
Time for a brief respite from wildlife photographs. I made these blurred images during a camping trip last summer in Rocky Mountain National Park. I produce these images entirely in camera, by moving the camera during a relatively long exposure. No Photoshop needed. I am fascinated with the marvelous texture.
Blur of pine trunks and forest grasses, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. (Created in-camera by moving the camera during the exposure.)
In addition to the great texture of the image, I love the sense of experimentation and luck involved with this type of shot. Usually I am a photography control freek: I carefully set the exposure, manage depth of field, and ensure that my camera is locked down as solidly as possible. With these images, by contrast I guess at the shutter speed, press the shutter, wave the camera around a bit, and see what I get. There is an element of craft to be sure — I look for strong lines that I think will make beautiful images. But there is a lot more spontaneity, experimentation, and luck, than my normal work.
Pan blur of Commerce City from Downtown Denver
I found these languishing in my processing cue next to the tigers that I posted the other day. These are both panning blurs, taken from my office in downtown Denver. Something about the tones in the sky captured my interest, so I made a series of exposures out the window. These are my two favorites.
Pan blur of Commerce City from Downtown Denver
One other thing that I find striking about these images are how just a little camera movement blurs away the city. Says something about impermanence, I suppose.
I made this pan blur by moving the camera rapidly from left to right during a relatively long (1/6th second) exposure. I am really struck by these images, and one of my goals this summer is to make more them. Stay tuned.
Like it? Hate it? Please leave a comment.
I confess to have a soft spot for blurred images. Here’s a great set of Scottish blurs by Ted Leeming and Morag Paterson, courtesy of the Luminous Landscape. The first image in particular is stunning.
I promise to get back to posting my own work soon.
Pintail Takeoff (Image# 100124_1001614)
I went looking for ducks on the Platte River this morning. I found a great many ducks but they were remarkably skittish. I plan to try again with a bind, but even without one I still came away with a couple of reasonably good images, including this photo of a Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) taking flight. Light levels were too low for sharp images of birds in flight, so I went for a slightly blurred look instead. As always, click on the image for a larger/sharper version.
I started a long blog post about my experience shooting at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge over the last three years, years, the difference between the conditions this year and last, the reasons why I made various images, etc. Then I realized that the post was ponderous and boring. Instead, here is a simple gallery of the best images from my trip this winter, plus a so-so quail image that I included for sentimental reasons. Hopefully the images can speak for themselves. (Click on a thumbnail for a larger view and for a slideshow).
I am simply stunned by William Neil’s “Impressions of Light” portfolio, a series of beautifully impressionistic images that Neil creates by moving the camera during a long exposure. (Outdoor Photographer article here.) You owe it to yourself to take a look. (If you don’t have time to browse the whole collection, here’s a favorite example from Neil’s Photo Blog.) The textures, colors, and sense of space in these images are fantastic.
I am sufficiently impressed by the Impressions of Light to try my own hand at images in that style, though hopefully different enough from Neil’s to move beyond mere imitation. Here are a couple of my initial efforts, all shot from my office window. (Here we come to an important difference between Neil and me. He spends his days photographing in Yosemite. I spend mine in a skyscraper looking out the window. Go figure.)
This is a motion blur of an interesting banded cloud formation. The light turquoise color of the sky was striking, and I tried to make it the focal point of the image:
Here is a blur of lower downtown Denver. I tried to leave just enough detail for the viewer to understand that this is an image of an urban landscape, though the image is primarily about texture and color.
You can see more of my initial attempts at “urban blur” images here.
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