Advertisement
Advertisement
Read Next
Photo Of The Day By Stan Bysshe
Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Noisy...Abstract Wildlife Assignment Winner Christopher Baker
Congratulations to Christopher Baker...Photo Of The Day By Tom Elenbaas
Today’s Photo Of The Day is...Photo Of The Day By Harry Lichtman
Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Spring...Advertisement
Featured Articles
Read More
Best Cameras For Wildlife Photography
To capture the decisive moment in animal activity and behavior, choose a camera with the AF performance, speed and image quality that are up to the task.
Read More
Florida Photo Hot Spots
A guide to the variety of stunning locations for nature photography in the Sunshine State.
Read More
Bonsai Rock
Photographing this iconic feature of Lake Tahoe.
Read More
Lake Of The Clouds
Best times and locations to photograph in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Michigan.
Read More
Columbia River Gorge Photo Locations
Waterfalls, wildflowers and stunning mountain backdrops await in the Pacific Northwest.
Read More
Peavine Cove
Watson Lake Park is located four miles north of downtown Prescott, Arizona.
The Lure of Blur
At some point, I suspect, every photographer looks at the brilliant colors of Fall, and wonders how to use them in a photograph. Especially, I might add, if it’s windy… In some conditions, it is simply impossible to get a sharp image of autumn leaves, so one is forced to resort to “creative blur.” It is simply a case of working with what nature offers you; with sharpness out of the question, and a camera in your hand – what else can you do?
On a recent October day, I found the color I wanted, but the wind was waving everything around. So I abandoned any idea of a quiet still-life, or a colorful near-far “Sierra Club” landscape, and went for the color, plain and simple; I slowed down the shutter speed and let the wind create the motion. For half an hour, I burned through exposures like mad, checking the LCD just to look at which techniques worked – and which produced complete, irredeemable chaos (and there were ALOT of those).
These two images are ones I kept, out of a hundred or more. (You might have picked different ones – or thrown them all away – who knows?) The one above I liked because of its gauzy simplicity; it is nothing but pure, abstract color. The one below I liked because of the leaf shapes still visible through the layers of blur. The conventional wisdom on blurry pictures is that something should always remain in focus for the viewer’s eye to hold on to. But conventional wisdom is often something to be skeptical of.
These images are a real stretch for a hard-core wildlife shooter like myself. But they are a reminder that photography should be creative, risky and playful. Have fun out there.