Dreamscapes 3
Waking Up Blurry
I tend to dislike photographs that aren’t sharp. But when done creatively, blurs can transform the familiar.
Our eyes have a “shutter speed” of approximately 1/30th of a second. One of the creative differences of a camera is the ability for shutter speeds to range from as short as 1/8000th of a second to as long as hours.
Intentional camera movement (ICM) takes advantage of this ability to manipulate the length of a captured moment. Camera movement while the shutter is open can present the familiar in a new light. Image points move during the exposure, creating streaks and blurs.
Moving Water
An ultra-fast shutter speed freezes every frenzied drop of crashing wave for all to see. As the shutter speed slows, detail begins to disappear until you are left with a silky indistinct blur. Shutter speed is an artistic choice in our interpretation of the scene.
Normally at slow shutter speeds, the camera is on a tripod. That way, stationary elements remain razor sharp and only what’s kinetic exhibits blur.
Off the tripod, what happens when you move the camera during a long exposure? That’s the magic of ICM. No two shots are ever alike. Minute changes in the subject’s motion, the direction of camera movement, and the choice of exposure time produce unpredictable and occasionally unpredictable results.
The Shot
Photographing Florida waves in the morning is incredibly easy. I simply roll out of bed and into my flip flops, shorts, and T-shirt. The nearby beaches are almost empty around dawn with just the sounds of the surf and smell of the ocean to keep me company.
I played with multiple slow shutter speeds and amounts/directions of ICM. No two waves and no two shots were identical. Out of thousands of images, a mere handful had the right amount of blur. This is one of them.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus