Instalment four of my 52-week Creativity Challenge - Movement
By it's very nature, still photography is just that—still.
It is possible to convey movement using slow shutter speeds that blur the action, e.g., waves on a shore, waterfalls, rivers, moving traffic. In some circumstances you can use fast shutter speeds that freeze the action, where there is implied movement due to our understanding of what's happening. For example, you can freeze a moment in a sporting event and our brains automatically fill in what is happening before and after. Similarly, a shot of a wave frozen by a fast shutter speed still implies movement because we know that the wave will continue to move and curl over.
Bridgewater Bay, Blairgowrie
I was at Bridgewater Bay on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, waiting for a sunset which never eventuated because of the heavy sea mist. However, as the tide receded, water was flowing across the rock platform and cascading in small waterfalls into rock pools and channels so I took the opportunity to try and shoot this water movement.
70mm, ISO 100, 8 seconds @ f/11
This first shot attracted my eye because of the cascading water flowing over the edge of the rock platform. However, when I checked the image on the back of the camera, it wasn't quite right. The background seemed truncated. I could have cropped it by zooming in (as per the cropped view below)
but I was still not completely happy with the shot as it did not convey enough of the water flow I could see in the wider scene. So I stepped back a few steps, raised the tripod a little and zoomed out to take this broader scene.
48mm, ISO 100, 4 seconds @ f/11
This wider view enabled me to capture the water flowing from both the right and left of the scene and the two exit streams: the waterfall over the rock edge and the small stream at the right. I tried various shutter speeds, controlled mainly by changing neutral density filters and settled on 4 seconds as it gave me the best balance across all the zones of water flow.
Check out the following video from my YouTube Channel where I talk through this.
Please feel free to comment below. Constructive criticism and informed discussion are always welcome.
Next up
♠ 5 Intentional Camera Movement