Cool Effects
Have you ever seen a photo and wondered how they did that? Like the photos with the amazing lighting effects or the motion blur around a focused subject. If you learn a few techniques you too can create these effects around your photos! Blow your friends and family away with some of these nifty tricks:
Motion Blur
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One of the coolest effects you can find that anyone can replicate, is the motion blur. This is when you capture a subject
while they are moving and they remain in focus while everything around them is blurry. The way you do this is to actually
move the lens and continue to aim and focus on the subject while you take the shot. It all has to do with relative
motion. If
your subject is in focus in the center and you move the camera, naturally everything else will become out of focus. Try this
on a moving car when you're in a car or on someone running or riding a bike. I've seen some really cool shots done this
way. The goal of any photography is to draw attention to your subject, when you do this effect, all the
attention is
drawn to the
subject that is in focus while all the rest is a meaningless background of blur.
As the background continues to move, the subject stays "in place" since you're focusing on them. Another cool way parents
can use this is
to spin your kid around while holding their arm in one hand and taking the shot with the other. I know you love your
Canon, but hold on tighter to the kid! Follow them with your lens and take a few shots.
Trailing Lights
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Another cool but basic effect that you often see in night photos is the effect of the trailing lights. This is a simple trick that has everything to do with shutter speed and long exposure. You basically need to set your camera on a firm surface (or ideally use a tripod). If you don't have a firm surface, you better have rock steady hands otherwise expect to get some extra unwanted blur a.k.a. lack of focus. Make sure that the flash is not on. Put your camera in TV (Shutter) mode. Set your shutter speed to a longer setting. And take a photo of a busy street in a city or a ferris wheel. The longer you leave the shutter open, the longer the sensor is exposed to the movement of the lights. Open it for too long though and you will get a pretty messy picture.
You can get some pretty
spectacular photos with long exposures at night, so experiment with moving lights in different settings and see what you come
up with. I did this in Vienna when watching a flame throwing street performer at Stephens Square and got this result:
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Rotate Blur
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I'm making these effects names up as I go along, but hopefully they're descriptive enough to understand. Another play on the exposure to the sensor is to make the camera think that things are moving by moving the camera. Remember, everything is relative in motion. If the camera is focused on one target and everything else is moving (whether it is caused by the actual subject moving or you moving the camera itself, the sensor will capture whatever information it gets. This was one of the coolest effects I learned from my friend Adam Tow an amazing photographer here in the bay area.
To get the rotate blur effect: Make sure your camera is in TV (Shutter) mode. Adjust the shutter settings depending on your lighting situation. Focus on your subject with a half shutter press, then move the camera in a twisting motion while keeping the center focused and still (think jerk the camera quickly clockwise or counter clockwise with a firm pivot).
The other self-induced blur effect can be generated by focusing on the subject and then quickly jerking the camera backwards. This gives the result of everything around the center moving and blurry while the subject stays in focus.
That's it! If you master that, you can get some really cool
shots of subjects who are still like the wedding couple or your child. It takes some practice to keep your hands centered,
but play with it enough and you'll blow everyone away with your creative photography.