Experimental Photography Set

I've added a new set to my Flickr account for some experimenting I'm doing with my new camera. It's nothing new in the photography world so don't get excited. I could tell you were starting to. I'm just practicing some techniques that people have been doing for awhile but that I haven't tried before. The photos that are in the set right now are for motion tracking. I was encouraged to do this by checking out the Flickr account of an acquaintance from NCC, David Russel. He made some suggestions for this type of image and I thought I’d give it a go.

The images will likely be familiar to anyone who’s seen photos from a race or seen a single car advertisement. The idea is that while a subject is moving you pan with them. You are then able to use a slightly longer shutter speed because, relative to the frame, they aren’t moving much. However, because the background IS moving, relative to the frame, it gets blurred out. The result is an image where the main subject is relatively sharp, and the background gives a feel of movement.

This is nice for two reasons. One reason is the aforementioned sense of motion. It’s great for giving a picture a sense of dynamics and energy. The second reason has to do with the blurring of the background. Just like using a large aperture (f/3.5-f/1.4) the motion tracking technique results in the desired subject being clear while everything else around it is blurry. Using aperture for this technique results in an out of focus background, puddles of color, while the motion tracking technique results in an environment that is, well, blurred, often with trails instead of puddles. It’s hard to describe, but definitely a different feel.

Mike's motion tracking experiment:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcolburn/sets/72157604088917873/

Also, note the difference between motion tracking blur…

And aperture/out of focus blur (lamps), (Amon)