PhotoPlus The Canon Magazine – August 2019

48 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

The Mission

Shoot portraits with

camera motion blur

using a long

exposure

Time needed

One hour

Skill level

Advanced

Kit needed

• Flashguns


• Wireless trigger


• Continuous lights


• Dark room


• Dark backdrop

Make your move

James Paterson explains in depth how to use intentional camera

movements and lighting skills for stylish, partially-blurred portraits

ost photographic blur

effects occur when

the subject moves

during the exposure

• think of blurred water or
  clouds, a fast-moving
  subject or a speeding car.
  Of course, for these kinds
  of effects a perfectly still
  camera is essential. But look
  what happens if we flip things so
  the subject remains still and the
  camera moves instead. With the
  right setup, we can create streaks
  of blur across our image.

To create our blur here we

quickly move the camera during a

long exposure of around a third of

a second – that’s the simple part.

The slightly more complicated

aspect is the lighting. The aim

here is to light our subject

partially with flash, and

with continuous lighting.

This way, the flash gives

us sharp details, while the

continuous light lets us blur

certain parts of the body. We’ve

used a set of three Speedlites and

a couple of continuous lamps here,

but you can use any combination

of flash and continuous light.

We’re effectively making two

exposures in one – the first is the

flash, which lights the face and

arms. The second is the ambient

exposure, in which the camera

movement works in combination

with the continuous lighting to

give us our blur in the lower part

of the frame. It’s a wonderfully

unpredictable technique that will

inevitably take a little trial and

error to get right, but the results

can be fantastic.

M