In Camera Movement (ICM)!

[Levina de Ruijter]

I took this a long time ago for a POTN challenge. The theme was: Make Your Shot. And I thought I would try to make inanimate objects dance. This one was my favourite.

 

[JohnPD]

I really like this, Levina.

 

[PhotoNut]

I took this a long time ago for a POTN challenge. The theme was: Make Your Shot. And I thought I would try to make inanimate objects dance. This one was my favourite.

View attachment 345

I love this. Taken with a slow shutter speed without any support?

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

I love this. Taken with a slow shutter speed without any support?

Thanks. Yes, that's what I did here. It was a lot of trial and error and this was the one I liked best. Funny thing is, it was one of the first shots I took. Go figure.

 

[Mikbone]

My first ICM attempts

 

[Mikbone]

Thanks. Yes, that's what I did here. It was a lot of trial and error and this was the one I liked best. Funny thing is, it was one of the first shots I took. Go figure.

Did you have to use a ND filter? I struggled a bit with over exposure

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Did you have to use a ND filter? I struggled a bit with over exposure

I took the shots after dark using two normal table lamps, 40w each I think, so I didn't have a lot of light to begin with and shooting at f/18 and 1/30s with ISO 100 apparently were good settings as it gave me the results I was after. Here's the unprocessed file. Two lights, each set at about 45º or so.

 

[Mikbone]

om

I took the shots after dark using two normal table lamps, 40w each I think, so I didn't have a lot of light to begin with and shooting at f/18 and 1/30s with ISO 100 apparently were good settings as it gave me the results I was after. Here's the unprocessed file. Two lights, each set at about 45º or so.
View attachment 5371

Nice image, thank you for the heads up with this. Interesting subject.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

om

Nice image, thank you for the heads up with this. Interesting subject.

Thanks, Mick. It is interesting, isn't it.

Here's another example that I quite like. It's the passage that runs underneath the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I did blend two different exposures though, one for the background (which was fairly blown out), one for the passage. And I also took two shots for the passage itself to have more cyclists in there. But all the movement is in the original RAW files.

 

[PhotoNut]

I took the shots after dark using two normal table lamps, 40w each I think, so I didn't have a lot of light to begin with and shooting at f/18 and 1/30s with ISO 100 apparently were good settings as it gave me the results I was after. Here's the unprocessed file. Two lights, each set at about 45º or so.
View attachment 5371

Nice processing then, with the B&W.

 

[Mikbone]

Thanks, Mick. It is interesting, isn't it.

Here's another example that I quite like. It's the passage that runs underneath the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I did blend two different exposures though, one for the background (which was fairly blown out), one for the passage. And I also took two shots for the passage itself to have more cyclists in there. But all the movement is in the original RAW files.
View attachment 5395

I really like this !

 

[Mikbone]

I really like this !

could you please explain the process if its not to time consuming?

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

could you please explain the process if its not to time consuming?

Sure, no problem.
There's not too much to it actually.

I think I set up my camera on a tripod. As the passage is a very dark place I first took a few shots of the buildings and the sky in the background, so they would be exposed properly. After that I started shooting the passage. I used different shutter speeds as I needed the passage to be fairly reasonably exposed and some cyclists needed to be in focus. Others I wanted to be out of focus. Like for instance this shot was taken at 1/13s. It's one of the shots I used in the final image (funny that both guys wore red shoes!).

Then at home I took the shots I liked to Photoshop and blended them together to get the final shot. I think the most difficult part, or the most tricky one anyway, was to blend the different exposures to a more or less coherent whole. As you can see that in the above shot the entire background is blown because I exposed for the passage. But it's a good shot as the cyclists are blurry in a way that I was looking for. The background then had to be replaced by a shot that was exposed for that background, like this one with a shutter speed of 1/1250s:

The transition between the two differently exposed shots is too big. But I had anticipated that so I had taken shots with different exposures to get a nice gradient between the background and the passage. And I just blended them all together, using the parts I could use, masking what I couldn't.

I think I was sloppy in places but I'm still fairly happy with the result.

 

[Jack Dawe]

I think I was sloppy in places but I'm still fairly happy with the result.

Looks excellent to me.

 

[Mikbone]

Sure, no problem.
There's not too much to it actually.

I think I set up my camera on a tripod. As the passage is a very dark place I first took a few shots of the buildings and the sky in the background, so they would be exposed properly. After that I started shooting the passage. I used different shutter speeds as I needed the passage to be fairly reasonably exposed and some cyclists needed to be in focus. Others I wanted to be out of focus. Like for instance this shot was taken at 1/13s. It's one of the shots I used in the final image (funny that both guys wore red shoes!).
View attachment 5533

Then at home I took the shots I liked to Photoshop and blended them together to get the final shot. I think the most difficult part, or the most tricky one anyway, was to blend the different exposures to a more or less coherent whole. As you can see that in the above shot the entire background is blown because I exposed for the passage. But it's a good shot as the cyclists are blurry in a way that I was looking for. The background then had to be replaced by a shot that was exposed for that background, like this one with a shutter speed of 1/1250s:
View attachment 5534
The transition between the two differently exposed shots is too big. But I had anticipated that so I had taken shots with different exposures to get a nice gradient between the background and the passage. And I just blended them all together, using the parts I could use, masking what I couldn't.

I think I was sloppy in places but I'm still fairly happy with the result.

Thank you very much Levina, I would like to try something with multiple shutter speeds and image merging, I have some homework to do regarding the technical parts of the processes,
I am illiterate where PS is concerned. I find it overwhelming. Thanks again

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

Thank you very much Levina, I would like to try something with multiple shutter speeds and image merging, I have some homework to do regarding the technical parts of the processes,
I am illiterate where PS is concerned. I find it overwhelming. Thanks again

If I can help in any way, just ask, Mick.

 

[Mikbone]

 

[Mikbone]

 

[RichardB]

View attachment 6015

This one is positively scary!

Well done.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

View attachment 6015

Well done indeed. And Richard is right, it IS rather scary.

I think it would be even more effective if the left half of the photo, with the window would be in focus so the human figure is placed in a normal frame. With everything moving it could be down to our eyesight. But with the left half of the picture in focus we don't have that excuse any more so there must really be something eerie going on in the pic! If that makes any sense.