How to Capture Motion Blur
One of the best things about photography is that once you learn the rules, you can start to break them. You’ve probably deleted a few blurry photos from your camera roll--what if we try to create them on purpose? Motion blur photography is an exciting technical skill and creative artform to add to your photographer toolbelt. Let’s dive into the art and technique of making motion blur images.
What is Motion Blur in Photography?
Motion blur photography is all about creating a sense of movement within a still image. Compared to photographs that crisply freeze a moment in time, incorporating motion blur implies action and introduces a powerful artistic effect. It might take some experimentation and practice to land on the best settings for the situation, but mastering motion blur in camera opens up a world of possibilities for creativity and storytelling.
How To Configure Motion Blur Settings
The ideal settings to play with motion blur will vary based on the shooting situation and your goal, but ultimately, you’ll want to be able to adjust your shutter speed to control time. This will naturally affect the exposure triangle--shutter speed, aperture and ISO--which work in harmony to control how light or dark an image is.
A quick review:
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is a key camera setting to control to create motion blur. Your shutter needs to be open for enough time to let action pass to create a cool effect.
The ideal shutter speed for motion blur varies depending on the speed of the motion you’re trying to capture. For example, snapping a photo of a person walking a 1/1000 may freeze their body in action whereas shooting at 1/50 may cause them to blur slightly since they’re in motion, and shooting at 5 seconds may make the person appear to disappear because they travelled through the frame.
Aperture
Aperture is an important setting because it controls the depth of field in your image—you get to decide how much of the photo is in focus.
Aperture refers to the size of the opening that lets light reach the sensor. If you want to take a picture where everything is in focus, you might shoot with a small aperture (big lower number) of f/11 to have a deeper depth of field. If you want to focus on a specific subject and let everything else fall out of focus, you might shoot with a large aperture (small lower number) of f/2.8 to have a shallower depth of field.
ISO Settings
ISO refers to your cameras’ sensitivity to light, which can help you achieve your ideal exposure. In general, bumping up your ISO can help you compensate for light in darker situations, but boosting your ISO will add noise and grain to your image. That said, camera technology is constantly improving, and manufacturers are often raising the bar when it comes to capturing noise-free files.
Every creative and technical decision you make to one setting will impact the other settings.
Getting Started with Shutter Priority
To get started playing with motion blur, try setting your camera to shutter priority, often called S or Tv (for time value), to experiment with different shutter speeds. While you adjust your shutter speed, other settings will be set automatically. Of course, you’ll have the most control when shooting in full manual mode, but shutter priority mode is a great place to start.
Tips for Capturing Motion Blur
Neutral Density Filters or ND filters are an essential tool when it comes to dialling in your motion blur settings. They act like sunglasses for your camera. An ND filter attaches on to the end of your lens, and comes in handful of different strengths or darknesses to block light in varying degrees. In order to slow down your shutter speed, you’ll have to adjust other settings like your aperture or ISO to compensate. Alternatively, adding an ND filter will allow you to get the desired exposure without making drastic changes to your other settings. Having a set of ND filters for each lens is a smart move for optimal creative control.
Another essential tool to capture motion blur--a . When you shoot handheld, it becomes difficult to keep your camera steady the longer your shutter stays open. Generally, if your shutter speed moves beyond 1/60, say 1/10 or 30 seconds, you’ll start introducing camera shake into the equation, and get unpredictable and unwanted motion blur. A will help you lock in the stillness of the shot next while offering an opportunity to capture motion traveling within your frame.
Using Long Exposure Technique for Smooth Motion
One way to play with motion blur is to capture long exposures. For this, it’s helpful to have a tripod and ND filters on hand, so you can freeze the elements that are still and introduce motion to specific elements in motion.
For example, if you’ve framed up a city shot where the buildings and skyscrapers are still, you can enjoy the magic of motion blur watching people and cars passing through the frame. The same goes for landscape photography. If you want to snap a shot of a waterfall and make the water look silky smooth, you can lock in your shot with your camera on a , and dial in your settings with the help of your ND filter to block the bright sunlight. It’s fun to play with slowing down the shutter speed to allow time for the water to travel through the picture. A shutter speed of say 1/10 may give you a little blur, but a shutter speed of say 1/500 will give you an even more smooth and milky look.
Using Panning Techniques To Track Moving Subjects
Now that you’re getting the hang of motion blur photography, a fun technique to try is called a panning shot—when you pan your camera along with a moving subject. The idea is to keep your subject in focus while the background blurs with your camera motion.
This can be tricky to dial in your settings to create the desired effect, but with some experimentation and practice, you can really capture some cool images. It’s helpful to choose a situation where there will be predictable or repeatable movements, like watching crowds walking across a street or photographing cars traveling down a busy road. When you arrive to a scene, first, get the shot, just so you have something. Then, start to explore some slower shutter speeds, while also letting your camera travel in the same direction as the subject. This could be a subtle sway or a big movement. It depends on your subject and how fast it’s traveling. For example, following a racecar as it speeds down the racetrack could require a quick movement to keep the car in frame. But the result is catching the car in focus as the background blurs, creating a dynamic image that offers the feeling of flying in a moment frozen in time.
Have fun experimenting. Capturing a perfect panning shot may take a few tries, but when you get it, it’s totally worth it.
Examples of Motion Blur Photography
Not all situations are equal when it comes to motion blur photography. It’s helpful to land on a scene where there are both still and moving pieces, especially when the movements are predictable.
Here are a few ideas of places to practice motion blur technique:
- Waterfalls and moving water- Star Trails, watching stars travel across the sky as the earth moves- Zoom Blur, zooming while the shutter is open
Post-Processing for Motion Blur Photography
If you want to add motion blur in Photoshop, there are many types of blur effects you can add under the Filter menu. “Motion blur” allows you to adjust the angle and distance to create the desired effect. While this may introduce or enhance motion blur to your images, try to capture your shot in camera. One of the joys of motion blur photography is seeing the shot immediately after taking it so you can make small adjustments. Perhaps you need to hold your shutter open longer or shorter based on the timing of the movement happening within the frame. Experimenting in the field will give you a variety of interesting results.
Conclusion
As you can see, motion blur photography opens up a whole new world of possibilities, but it takes time to master. While you experiment, there will be mistakes and close attempts before, during, and after you get the shot. Review your images as you go, to so you can make adjustments. And when you get the shot, celebrate your wins!
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