Weekly Photo Theme – Motion

The week before my trip to Walt Disney World (week of June 1st) we had chosen the theme of Motion. My thought was to capture some images that convey motion. Normally a picture is a static instance of a continuously moving world. But us photographers know how to play with our exposures to achieve images that capture a sense of movement.

Sometimes, the method is a long exposure like my water images, where the water becomes silky smooth but if the exposure is just right you get a feeling of moving water. Other methods involve fast moving objects, like cars, where the exposure is perfect for the stationary objects but the car is moving too fast and becomes a blur through the image. You can also reverse this approach and pan your camera with the car to capture the car as a stationary object but the panning motion will blur the background.

I had a few ideas of what I wanted to d for this theme but in the hectic time leading up to my trip nothing really worked out for me. I thought I would find plenty of opportunities at Disney (and I would have) but my head was not in that mode and I totally forgot. So I have been playing catch-up and these are my attempts at Motion.

For my first image I stayed with my classic moving water image. Maybe a little boring but I enjoy climbing all around the parks looking for these views so in the end I suppose it is good for me as it keeps me out and moving (OK, pun intended). I converted this one to monochrome as the green foliage was really powerful and was drawing my eye away from the water. I wanted to keep it in the image to help frame the falls but did not want it distracting from the main attraction.

Water Stairs
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, 4s, 24mm, f/16, ISO 100

The second image is an experiment that didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped. I think it was more timidness on my part rather than a failed concept. I was trying to combine two themes (last week’s theme was Restaurants) into a single image but I felt uncomfortable setting up the camera outside the car to capture Applebee’s with the cars blurring by. I tried to make this dual view image work but I am still not sure about it. Hopefully I’ll get some courage up and go for my original concept.

Whizzng By
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5, 0.4s, 38mm, f/16, ISO 100

The last image is another concept I think I could improve upon if I used my DSLR but I wanted to try experiment some more with the camera in the iPhone. I had a really good time in Disney getting images for instgram with the phone and thought I could use it for other projects. It is a lot less conspicuous than my DSLR and people seem more willing to ignore the act of taking a photo when you use your phone. Anyway, this was out the car window and the intent was to get the tree in the field while the roadside fence and grass blurred away. I think I can get this better but need a few more practice runs up and down the road. lol

Drive By Shooting
iPhone 5S, 1/60s, 4.1mm, f/2.2, ISO 40