Daytime Motion Blur Photographs - Mixed Bag

As part of our Flickr Groups "Time" assignment, I wanted the type of shot where the background is sharp, and the traffic is blurred. Ideally I wanted to do this at night, to get cool head-lamp trails, but with kids and a family I haven't been able to, so here's what I came up with trying to recreate that type of shot during the day...

Road Narrows Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/3rd, ISO 64, Focal Length 28.1mm, Tripod

My thinking was to use a tight aperture to maximise the depth of field and lengthen the shutter speed. I slipped my polarizing filter on to cut down the light, again to lengthen the shutter speed. I also put my grad on, but slid it down so the whole lens was darkened. Shooting on a tripod, in aperture priority mode, I was surprised at how quickly the blurred vehicles started to disappear as the shutter speed lengthened.

You really need to take this type of shot at night, that way when the vehicles disappear, the tail lights will still show up brightly (and look great!). Next time...


Don't Stop Me Now! Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/4, ISO 64, Focal Length 13.4mm, Tripod

Black and white / sepia treatment.


Streak! Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 2 sec, ISO 64, Focal Length 13.4mm, Tripod

The shutter speed is up to 2 seconds on this one - so the vehicles have disappeared, but there's still a white streak.


Watchman Watched Taken With Fujifilm S5700, Aperture Priority, F13.6, 1/2 sec, ISO 64, Focal Length 36.6mm, Tripod

I took this from a bridge, but again I couldn't get the blur I was after. I ended up with the b&w sepia treatment, then added noise and a lens correction vignette.


An interesting challenge, but I'm itching to get out and take some night time long exposures. Soon.

Cheers, Rob.

Comments

[weejamer]

You should try timelapse??

[Rob_Nunn]

Great idea. Coming soon....