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Photo Tips & Techniques

Action Month: Implied Movement / Pan by Russ Burden Another method of capturing motion is to imply movement by panning your camera Article rating: 9.22

Lots to think about:  freeze the motion / emphasize the action / make it artistic / zoom it / pan it / time it right / know the subject / ...........    I wanted to write a single HOW TO article on action but based on the number of topics and wanting to write more than one sentence about each, I decided to dedicate this entire month’s Tips to Action. Action and digital photography go hand in hand. Digital photography can expedite the learning process and provide better images using the instant feedback of the LCD. If the results are not what you desire, modify the settings to produce the wanted effect. Bump up the shutter speed, slow it down, adjust the ISO for more versatility, change your angle, etc. Make sure to check all the articles this month (see Freezing the Moment / Use Slow Shutter Speeds) to get tips and hints on how to capture the many different ways to photograph action.

Implied Movement: In order to depict action, the subject needs to be moving. While this holds true 98% of the time, it’s not a steadfast rule. There are a few techniques that allow action to be conveyed even if the subject is motionless - move the camera randomly during a long exposure, move a tripod mounted camera along the vertical / horizontal axis during a long exposure, zoom the lens.

a) The first technique is the easiest. It works great with Christmas lights, night time city scenes, or any other situation with artificial points of light. Simply open the shutter for at least one second and randomly move the camera. Try fast, slow, abrupt, and smooth movements for a variety of effects. Shooting digitally has a huge advantage as it doesn’t cost you anything if the results are poor and you have instant feedback so you can modify the settings for better results. Try mixing the technique with the use of flash. The pop of the flash will freeze parts of the image mixing it in with the motion from the camera.

b) The second technique involves using a pan and tilt head mounted on a tripod. Great subject matter for this treatment includes tress in a forest and buildings. Wait for an overcast day so the ambient light provides a slow enough shutter speed to perform the technique. You’ll also need a three to five stop neutral density filter to obtain the necessary slow shutter speed. Create your forest or city scape composition and during a long exposure, pan the camera vertically. The shapes will be “painted” onto the sensor giving the image an artistic feel.

c) Zoom the lens during a long exposure to imply action. Find a subject that’s stationary and simply zoom the lens while the shutter is open to create a radial line effect. Night time scenes work well but I’ve also done this during the day with good results using neutral density filters. Try zooming the lens slowly or quickly to get varying effects. Zoom from the long range to the short range for one effect and from the short range to the long for another effect. To keep the zoomed lines straight, mount the camera on a tripod or place it on a rigid surface. For the sake of variety, make some handheld exposures. This technique will record any movement made by your hands. Deliberately move the camera while to zooming get some other worldly results. Again, check the LCD for the result and modify the technique until you get what you want.

© Russ Burden

Panning: Using slow shutter speeds to exaggerate the motion of a moving subject, painterly results can be made by panning the camera. When panning, follow the motion of the subject with your camera to blur out the background and create a sharp rendering of the subject. The slower the shutter the more the subject’s movement is shown. To perform a successful pan, set the camera to manual focus and prefocus in front of you where the action will occur. Begin to follow the subject before it gets to the predetermined location. When it reaches the prefocused spot, release the shutter while continuing to follow the movement using a smooth and fluid action. The faster the subject moves, the faster the necessary shutter speed to create the effect of having a sharp rendering of the subject offset against a background that reveals motion. If you’re new to the technique, passing cars are great subjects with which to work to gain practice. Pick a location where the speed at which the cars are moving is consistent and repeatable. Glean the information you get from that shoot and apply it to future ones you encounter regarding shutter speed and the speed of your subject.

To learn more about this topic, join me on one of my Photographic Nature Tours. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com and click on the NATURE TOURS button for more information. Also, pick up a copy of my new book, Amphoto’s Complete Book of Photography. You can purchase a signed copy directly from me or visit your local book store or Amazon. Contact me at rburden@ecentral.com to order your signed copy.

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