CHALLENGE3:
IN-CAMERAMOVEMENT
Stickingto thethemeof creativetechniques
andunconventionalapproaches,thefinal
challengewasto trysomeintentional
cameramovement(ICM).Whileit'snot
a newidea,andthethreetechniqueswe
coveredarewellknown,theamountof blur,
itsdirectionandthesubjectsthemselves
arethethreevariablesthatwouldprovidea
certaindegreeof uniqueness.
Forthefirstapproach,weneededto be
at theedgeof a groupof straighttreesfor
verticalpanning,sowemovedoutinto
theopenandfoundtheperfectspotwith
lushgreenfernsonthegroundcontrasting
againstthewhitetrunksof thesilverbirches.
I suggestedthatStephenswitchto shutter-
prioritymodesohecouldtakecontrolof
theshutterspeedwhilethecamerasetthe
appropriateaperturefora correctexposure.
Asa startingpoint,I recommended
1/10secandthensimplyto adjustshutter
speedslightly,eitherway,dependingon
Stephen’stechniqueandpanningspeed.
Hefoundthatthiswastheidealshutter
speedbutreducedtheISOratingonhis
NikonD800to ISO 50 because,eventhough
theskywasovercastandthelightsoftand
diffused,thelightwasstillreasonablybright.
Wefoundthatevenat ISO50,thecamera
wasselectinganapertureof f/32,which
wouldusuallybeanunworkableaperture
becauseof thediffractionit wouldintroduce
intoimages.Butsincethistechniquerelies
onblurandabstractionwithnothingin the
framebeingsharplycaptured,thisreally
wasn’tgoingto bea problem.Stephenquicklygottheshotshewas
aimingfor,despitehavingto fireoffmultiple
framesbecauseICMis sucha hit-and-miss
technique.Wenowdecidedto moveinto
thetreesagainsohecouldfocusoncreating
zoomburstslookingupintothetreecanopy.
Thisparticulartechniqueis greatonbright
summerdayswhenthelightis tooharshto
shootoutin theopenandyouwouldliketo
keepshooting.Theadvantageof it being
brightis thatthefoliageis backlitandglows,
andtheskycontrastsagainstit.
Thezoombursttechniqueprovedto
betrickierthanverticalpanningbecause
it wasa littlemoredifficultto finda section
of treecanopythatworkedwiththezoom
blureffect.Forthismethodyouzoominto
thesubject,focusandthenbeginto zoom
outwhilereleasingtheshutterbutton.After
manytriesto finda suitabletreecanopy,
andevenmoreshots,Stephenpositioned
himselfnextto a tree,whichmaintained
a degreeof sharpnesswhilecreatinga
lead-in line into the frame. The foliage, as
you’d expect, appeared to dynamically rush
towards the camera. This was the shot we’d
been aiming for.
Not content with two ICM shots in the
bag,I suggested we try one more technique
before we called it a day, and this time it
wasto rotate the camera. The camera
settings would be the same as the other
ICMtechniques, and Stephen began by
shooting up into the tree canopy as this is
always a good option for rotations. After this
I suggested how this technique also works
when shooting the ground, and Stephen
found he could shoot interesting images of
fernsthis way.ThiswasthechallengethatStephenenjoyed
the most out of the three, and it’s easy to see
why if you’ve ever tried ICM. I have to confess
that I was having a go myself while he was
shooting. Despite having never tried the
technique before, Stephen quickly honed his
approach to achieve smooth movement with
each of the three methods we tried. It was with
the final rotation technique where he found a
unique way of shooting ferns on the ground
where they remained relatively sharp in the
centre of the frame, and the surrounding area
became a swirl of blur.CHALLENGE 3 Proverdict
The (^) Photo Workshop
- Stephen get to grips with the rotation technique and tries
a variety of trees and branches to find the perfect subject. - For intentional camera movement, it’s best to shoot in
shutter-priority mode for control of the shutter speed. - ICM requires many shots to be taken to get one that works.
Stephen checks the LCD to see if there’s one he’s happy with.
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70 Digital SLR Photography July 2019