Mario Perez: How can a still, static photo convey movement? Until now you thought that recording a video was the only way to capture movement with your camera. Today our collaborator Iaio has set out to refute this idea and show you that with a single shot you can make things appear to move. How? Keep reading.
A photograph is really impressive not only when a good composition is achieved or if the subject or object is attractive enough, but what differentiates a good photograph from an exceptional one is the sensation that it manages to transmit to the observer.
More incredible than being able to freeze an instant is being able to transmit a sensation of movement. It is teleporting the viewer to the precise moment in which it was taken and making him feel there.
Ways to convey movement through a photograph Static will be the reason that I am here to share with you in this article. Take a good seat.
What is motion photography?
Moving photography is nothing more than a photo that, because of how it has been taken, conveys a sensation of movement. Although photography itself is static, it is possible to express movement by using some techniques that we will see later in the article.
Unlike high-speed photography that stops the movement of a subject or object using very high shutter speeds (1/4000 second for example), motion photography is precisely the opposite, it is photographing subjects or objects, but using shutter speeds much slower (1/10 seconds), which allows you to convey that sensation of movement and dynamism that is so impressive.
Although today it is possible to achieve this effect through post production or photo editing on the computer, today you will discover how to achieve this effect directly from your camera.
compose on the go
Movement has its own laws of composition, and beyond the fact that you often wonder whether or not you should follow the photographic rules, I recommend that you pay special attention to this one:
“When you take a photograph of a moving or moving object, the composition and framing must give more space in front of the object, towards the place to which it moves”
In other words, the moving elements within the frame must “enter” the photograph, leaving more space in front of the object than behind it.
If you look at the two previous photographs, you will be able to perceive a difference between the two, one seems more “comfortable” despite the fact that both are almost identical. The one that leaves more space in front of the pilot seems more correct.
How to achieve a sense of movement
Slow (shutter) speed: A very effective way to capture the sensation of movement in a static photograph is to slow down the shutter speed. All that time that we leave our camera recording the photo, the sensor will be capturing the movement of the subject. Therefore, the longer the exposure time, the greater the movement reflected in it.
“Amount” of light: This is another of the determining factors for taking a moving picture and it is strictly related to the shutter speed. The slower your shutter speed, the more light the sensor will pick up, so you run the risk of overexposing your shot.
Later in the article we will see how excessive light shots can be compensated in long exposures.
Stability: If our camera is not stable enough, in addition to the movement of the subject or object of interest, we will have movement as a result of poor camera stability conditions. Therefore, it is important to use all the possible stabilization elements that we know (tripod, remote trigger, etc.).
Techniques and Tricks
Now that you have a better idea of what motion photography is and what sets it apart from the rest of the photographic disciplines and makes it so special, the time has come for you to begin to familiarize yourself with the techniques and tricks necessary to carry out these kinds of snapshots.
There are various methods that you can use depending on the message or feeling you want to communicate:
1) Sweep or Panning
Panning is the technique you should use if you want the subject or object of interest to come out static and well defined while the background comes out moved. It is one of the most popular techniques for photographing moving objects since it is possible to transmit the movement and dynamism of a scene in a very effective way.
As its name indicates, sweeping consists of moving the camera at the same speed and in the same direction in which the object or subject we want to photograph moves, “sweeping” the scene.
In this way, the effect of movement is reversed: everything that was static will remain moved, and the object that was moving will remain static.
How do I get it?
- Depending on the amount of ambient light, select a slower shutter speed than you would usually use to take the picture if you weren’t panning. Medium speeds are used, but keep in mind that the slower the rate of fire, the easier it is for the object to move, so do it carefully.
- Try to take a certain distance from the object, since the closer you are to it, the faster it will move in relation to the camera, and the more difficult it will be to obtain good results.
- Look for a location that allows you a clear vision, that is, without anything that obstructs your field of vision or stands between you and the object or subject of interest.
- Accompany the movement and direction of it as stable as possible to prevent it from moving.
To achieve spectacular results you must take into account:
- depth of field: you will have to evaluate how focused or out of focus you want the background to come out other than being blurred. Pay attention to the diaphragm.
- Shutter speed: As I mentioned before, choose a slower shutter speed than you would usually use when taking the picture.
- Sweep Speed: will depend on the shutter speed and the shutter speed will depend on the sweep speed. If you use faster speeds (say 1/50) you will have to do a faster sweep, and vice versa.
- Subject distance: the closer you are to the subject, the more difficult it will be to get good panning results.
- Stability: Keep in mind that while moving the camera from side to side, if you are not using a tripod the camera will also move up and down or vice versa, inadvertently of course. So if you use very slow shutter speeds, there will be a greater chance that you will not achieve the desired sharpness.
The difficulty of this technique, as you may have noticed, lies in the number of variables to take into account at the time of carrying it out, so you will have to arm yourself with a lot of patience. If you persist and experiment and try, you will get truly spectacular photographs.
2) Zoom or Zooming effect
Zooming is a technique that, as you can imagine, allows you to give the sensation of movement by using the zoom lens.
This sensation can be both approaching, if we zoom in or away from the subject or object to be photographed.
Through converging lines, it is possible to focus the observer’s attention towards the center of the photograph, generating a sensation of movement in or out depending on how it is used, giving it very peculiar dynamism and movement.
How do I get it?
- Frame the photograph by putting the subject or object of interest in the center.
- As far as the light possibilities, close the diaphragm.
- Select a slower shutter speed than you would normally use to take the same shot.
- While the shutter is open, thereby allowing light to reach the sensor, zoom in or out depending on the effect you want to achieve. Basically you do that by varying the focal length while the photo is being recorded.
To achieve spectacular results you must take into account:
- Focal distance: In this particular technique, the focal length is not fixed, but varies during the shot. It is usual to “zoom” or rather, from a more open focal point to a more closed one, to achieve that approaching effect. Anyway you can experiment as you want and to your liking.
- Goals: beyond the fact that with any non-fixed focal lens you can achieve this effect, you will obtain the best results with a wide-angle lens since its own distortions make this effect something spectacular.
- Zoom speed: the speed with which you modify the focal length will give you different results. If you are looking for more progressive lines, you will have to zoom more slowly. But if what you want to achieve are fast lines, you will have to vary the focal length very quickly.
- Shutter Speed: Just like panning, shutter speed depends on panning speed and vice versa. According to the results you expect to obtain, you should use faster or slower speeds, as you consider necessary.
- Stability: One of the essential conditions in photography is stability and zooming is no exception. The slower the shutter speed, if the camera is not stable enough, the picture will be blurred.
3) Photo sequences
Expressing the time and movement of the subjects or objects of interest can also be done through multiple photographs, that is, a sequence of them. Here is a clear example:
How do I get it?
The way to achieve this spectacular effect is through the fusion of several images taken under equal conditions, so that we can observe in the same image the entire sequence of the subject’s movement.
In order to do so we must have:
- a tripod
- A camera that allows you to shoot in burst mode.
- A software that allows you to merge all the photos into one.
Pay special attention to the shutter speed, because if it is too slow, each of the images will be blurred. If the light conditions allow it, try not to slow down more than 1/60 of a second, although this will depend on the speed and, as I said before, on the light conditions of the scene.
Well, now all that remains is to find a good sequence, which can be a person on a bicycle, on a skateboard, snowboarding, a good jump, etc. Once you have the frame ready, press the shutter from start to finish, and then through the fusion software, achieve this incredible effect.
To the extent that you better perform the previous framing, the white balance, that is, the more time you dedicate to preparing the photograph, the less you will have to work on editing them later.
4) Long exposure
If they called you…