For this week’s photo challenge, Michelle W. offers up the opportunity to, in her words, “find beauty in a blur.” You can view the original challenge post here. I know that I have very few examples where I have purposely added blur to an image. In fact, I have far more unintentionally blurred images than intentional. I guess that makes me a lousy photographer. (Insert smiley face here, I hope.) In the image above, at the Arizona Nationals NHRA drag race, I experimented with attempting to track a moving dragster. Most of the experiments were failures, but as I practiced, I got better at matching my camera pan to the speed of the vehicle. My example is not perfect, but is the best of the lot. This shot was taken with my Nikon D5100 mated to the kit lens 55-200 mm set at 68 mm. Exposure was f/11 at 1/160 sec. and ISO-100.
At one point, I experimented with long exposures. This shot reflects an f/32 30-second exposure at ISO-100 using my Nikon D7000 and Tamron 18-270 mm zoom at full zoom. The shot was taken from a pedestrian bridge overlooking I-94 in Fargo, North Dakota.
My last example is an experiment with a variable neutral density filter to intentionally blur the waterfall. The subject is Wailua Falls on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. I didn’t happen to have my tripod that day, so I rested the camera on the railing of our observation point. I would have loved to include more of the falls, but that would have meant handholding the camera and risking camera movement blur. Taken at f/22, the 1/3 second exposure, ISO-100 was taken with my D7000 mated to a Tamron 18-270 mm lens set to 20 mm.
John Steiner
Flare Legend Adventures
Good one!
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I have always liked the blurred lights and the blurred water and waterfalls. The car photo is cool too! I should take a photography class, because I find all photo posts interesting. I would love to take better photos.
There are some interesting websites for learning basic photo tricks. I will try to remember to comment on your FB wall when I get some time to look up the links.
awesome 😎
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Goodness these are very professionally blurred shots. I absolutely love the second one. Colour is so dramatic when the focus takes second place.
Thanks for the compliment! I took a lot of long exposures for that second shot. As I noted, this shot was a 30-second exposure. At first I couldn’t figure out why the roadway in the image was blurred. I was using a tripod. Then I realized that people using the pedestrian bridge vibrated the bridge ever so slightly as they walked.
Ah fascinating! Results were great.
These are terrific John – I find shots like your opener quite difficult and am impressed that you captured the car so sharply. Great job! Also love the taillights 🙂
Thanks! I am looking forward to another chance to try some moving vehicle pics again. I couldn’t tell on the camera’s display how the pics turned out. It was a surprise to see which ones turned out good and how many had too much blur on the car.