PhotoPlus The Canon Magazine – August 2019

The Canon Magazine 51

Creative blur effects

01 the lighting Plan
The key is in directing the lights to hit different parts of
our subject, then balancing out the power so that it
works for our long shutter. The flashes are aimed at
the parts of the subject we want sharp, while the
continuous lights are for the blurred parts.

03 arranging the Constants
Once our flashes are in place, we need to think about
continuous lights. These could be any kind of source
you like. A modelling light from a studio flash head
(with the flash turned off) is placed on the left of the
subject, and an LED Panel to the right side.

05 exPosure settings
The key with our exposure is to use a shutter speed
slow enough to allow for the camera movement, and
an aperture that works for our flash power. Typically
this will mean using flashes at low setting around 1/16
to 1/4 power, and continuous lighting at full power.

02 gelling the flashguns

To add to the mood of our shot we’ve used coloured

gels (a multi-pack set from Selens), fastened in place

over our two rear Speedlites. When choosing colours,

it’s usually best to pick those that are complementary

like the orange and blue combo here.

04 Control the sPreaD

It’s vital that the light from the continuous sources

does not spill onto the parts we want to keep sharp,

like the face. If too much light hits the face, it will blur,

like the lower half of the body. We used a honeycomb

grid over the modelling light to control the spread.

06 moving the Camera

Finally, we press the shutter while keeping the camera

still for a split second, then make a quick movement

up, down left or right. It’s worth experimenting with

movements – you could try zooming. This results in a

wonderful combo of blurry streaks and sharp details.

sT ep by sTep artiStiC portraitS

follow these top tips for successful part sharp, part blurred portraits

add blur in

phoToshop

it’s a good idea to shoot

lots of frames for this

effect. you might find

afterwards that in some

frames you get wonderful

blurred streaks but a

less successful portrait.

if you like you can copy

the best blur from one

image to another. this is

easily done in photoshop.

Simply open the blur you

want to copy, make a

loose selection around it

with the lasso tool, hit

Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy then

Cmd/Ctrl+v to paste it

in your main image. then

position the blur with the

move tool and change the

Blend mode to lighten.

Modelling lighT

SubjecT

led panel

caMera

SpeedliTe

1/16 power

SpeedliTe

1/4 power

SpeedliTe

1/16 power

bacKgrouind