For the Love of Movement Blur » Michael Clark Pictures

Early on in my profession as an journey photographer, I had a keenness for movement blur imagery. Utilizing gradual shutter speeds to point out the movement was simply a part of telling the story and conveying the velocity of the athletes I used to be photographing. I bear in mind my first huge industrial project with Adobe for the launch of Lightroom (manner again in 2006), I went out with Ryon Reed, one of many mountain bikers we have been set to work with the subsequent day, and the night earlier than our shoot we created tons of of movement blur photos simply to get one thing totally different. It most likely seemed fairly comical to see me and my assistant chasing after Ryon on his mountain bike however the outcomes have been onerous to disclaim (as proven under). Ever since, I’ve seemed for alternatives to include movement blur into my photos to boost the texture and actually convey an inventive intent—that intent being some magic mojo that comes out once you add movement blur to a picture and it really works.

Not too long ago, I’ve additionally utilized this movement blur approach to photographing landscapes. Under you may see a stand of golden aspens from a spot on the Alamos Vista Path above Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’ve lengthy thought blurry tree photos have been sort of cliché to say the least. In lots of instances the pictures simply don’t work, however as I’ve discovered, in the event you discover the correct forest with bushes spaced simply so and the road of bushes all considerably comparable then it could work–and be a really efficient and highly effective picture.

As may be seen under, I’ve created all kinds of movement blur photos of many alternative journey sports activities, not simply mountain biking. Browsing and whitewater kayaking are pure matches for movement blur photos although they’re additionally very dangerous photographs as you might be more likely to come away with tons of if not hundreds of crap photos earlier than one simply works. You may also fully miss a key motion sequence that would have been ridiculously wonderful, however that’s a part of the enjoyable. Committing the to the concept of a movement blur picture is dangerous, however when it pays off it typically ends in a a lot stronger picture than a static motion shot.

With panorama pictures particularly it’s thrilling to have a part of the body blurred (as within the seashore scene under) and a part of the body static (i.e. sharp). That is typically executed with waterfalls and waves, however within the seashore scene under, I needed so as to add some thriller to the scene and noticed that my tripod was sinking within the sand throughout lengthy exposures, thus including a really slight movement blur. I made a decision to kick the tripod a number of occasions throughout lengthy exposures and acquired this picture, which has a ghostly array of colours and “smoke” for lack of a greater time period that basically helped propel the picture out of the conventional.

Movement blur will also be fairly efficient for portraiture—however as with sports activities many frames should be created to get one which works. Within the studio picture under, I had the topic transfer whereas lit by steady lighting after which froze his movement on one aspect with a quick flash length–i.e. a really quick burst of sunshine. This system creates a mesmerizing picture as if a spirit handed via the body when the shutter was open. It additionally creates some very fascinating strains like some factor out of a sketchbook, which make the viewer take a re-evaluation to determine what’s going on.

Taking movement blur to the subsequent degree, creating movement blur after which utilizing strobes (or flash) to freeze the movement (but additionally present how briskly they’re shifting) is a very thrilling. This system appears to come back and go in reputation however I find it irresistible when an artwork director or a photograph editor is keen see such a work—and permits for the dangerous nature of making some of these photos. Proven under are some movement blur photos of downhill skateboarding created for the FUJIFILM GFX 100S marketing campaign the place I used to be given full artistic license to give you one thing totally different and distinctive.

As for that wall of aspens, I’ve since gone again to this precise spot as it really works higher than some other forest I’ve ever tried, and have created photos at totally different occasions of the yr and with totally different mild as proven under. This winter picture might not be fairly as magical because the picture above created within the fall with gold leaves on the aspens, nevertheless it does have some wild shadows on the snow under. I included the solar as properly and used it to focus on the wild shadows that look like shaking the bottom below the bushes. The snowy floor additionally seems to be as if a wave is breaking via the bushes and washing over the bottom.

For those who haven’t performed with movement blur in your photos I extremely advocate making an attempt it out. Most of these photos are simply enjoyable to check out for the reason that closing consequence will probably be barely totally different each time.