Photography how-to: zoom blur

petertennekes — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:11:26 +0000

Here is a simple technique to make creative images by adding zoom blur. You most likely can achieve a similar effect in post editing, but here I’ll explain how it is done ‘in the field’.

First composition: First pick a suitable subject. The subject should have a good contrast to the background so it sticks out. Set up your camera on a tripod. The subject needs to be placed in the center.

Now set the focus and switch to manual focus. What you will be doing is zoom and press the shutter at the same time. In order for this to work best the shutter speed needs to be long enough. So lower the ISO setting to 100 or lower, set the aperture to the highest F number. Also set your camera to continues shooting, so that if you keep the shutter pressed it keeps taking pictures.

Now the tricky part is to time the shutter press and the zooming. The easiest way to do this is to go back and forth so that you continuous zooming in or out. In this way in the 1/30st of a second that the shutter is open you are most likely zooming in or out. And if you keep the shutter pressed you for sure have one with the right effect.
In your favorite application you can crop the image so the subject is off center.

Hope you’ll have fun trying this out. Let me know if you like it by adding a comment.

Happy shooting!
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Photography how-to: zoom blur