This week’s challenge is to take a photo which is intentionally blurry by means of ICM or completely out of focus in order to create abstract images which have a graphic or painterly appearence.
There are several ways to create such images and it needs some practice and experimentation to get the desired result. Intentional camera movement can turn your photo-realistic scene into an image that looks almost like an impressionist painting. For this technique shutter priority or manual mode should be used. Use the lowest ISO setting and close the aperture as far as necessary to get a relatively long exposure time. It needs some trials to find out the required settings. On very bright days it might even be necessary to use ND filters.
Direction of camera movement depends very much on the scene you intend to photograph. The camera movement turns all objects into streaks of color which resemble brush strokes. For some scenes vertical movement ist the right choice, for others it may be horizontal movement.
Another method is to take your photo deliberately out of focus. This works best when taking the shot against the light. Set your camera to manual focus and select a large aperture opening (low number), the photo should be rather overexposed. This also needs a lot of experimenting to find out the required settings.
Zooming during exposure: changing the focal length of your zoom lens during exposure is a special form of ICM
Panning is also a special form of ICM: In this case the camera needs to be moved more or less horizontally with the focus on the moving object. The panning motion should be adjusted to the speed of the moving object. The right relation of panning speed and shutter speed should result in an image showing the moving object relatively sharp before a blurry backgound. Shutter priority should be used. Shutter speed depends on the speed of the moving object. As a rule of thumb the shutter speed as fraction of a second should be about the object speed in km/hour. For a cyclist moving with about 15 to 20 km/h shutter speeds about 1/20 sec are about right while for a racing car moving at 200 km/h shutter speeds of 1/200 sec or 1/350 seconds are required.
You may find further tips, examples and ideas for your image under following links:
https://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/5823/out-of-focus-deliberately/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB2jllUqiVk
https://www.canon-europe.com/get-inspired/tips-and-techniques/action-panning/
https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2018/03/23/sharpness-is-overrated-30-tips-to-shoot-blurry-and-out-of-focus-photos/
Challenge Summary
- Take a new photo either ICM or intentionally out of focus in order to create an abstract image which has a graphic or painterly appearence.
- Post your newly taken photo during the week of Sunday, May 1 and Saturday, May7.
- Please note and obey our group rules https://photochallenge.tempusaura.com/2022/04/group-rules-for-participating-in-the-photochallenge/
- Please remember to comment on at least FIVE photo submissions this week by answering the question “why?” in your comments. In other words, “why do I like (or not like) this photo?” or “why did this photo catch my eye?” Thank you!
The friendly community guidelines are pretty simple
- Take a new photo for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
- Post your photo each week to our active communities on Facebook or Flickr(or both). Tag the photo: #2022photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
- Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2022 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge is fun and easy.
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