Imparting motion with a Zoom

[john michael white]

I have seen the technique of imparting motion, or image blurr, with a zoom lens while keeping the focal point of the image in focus, and am wondering how this is done.

[anonymous]

John, just zoom the lens. Pretty simple. This is one I just took out the window at about 30/sec. I started zooming as quick as I could before I pressed the shutter.

Tripod and slower shutter might give you better results. High f stop may leave more of the center in focus, or much slower shutter speed and less zoom.

Perhaps someone here will have some better examples of this.

Here’s another one. Really nice way to pick out shapes and colors and get rid of cruddy background. Very different results with every attempt.

[Douglas Barnes]

Using a longer focal range zoom helps (ie 35-70mm vs 12-24mm). Have you tried executing the effect with motion rather than zoom? It can be more dependable focus wise.

[john michael white]

Scott, the picture you displayed is a good exapmle of what I have been able to come up with (I like the second picture by the way). I have tried experimenting with higher f stops etc, and it still didn’t give me the results I was looking for. Twisting the zoom on the lens may work fine in some situations, but what I am looking for is something with more of the picture in focus like this image from Doug’s site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31084482@N07/2913562511/in/set-72157607742300779/

Sometimes I am slow I guess….it didn’t dawn on me to just move the camera.   ;D  Doug, in your photo above, did you just use motion to get the zoom effect, as in focusing on the fish and then physically moving the camera away from the subject as you tripped the shutter?  If so, that would be a lot easier.  Maybe I am trying to make it too difficult 😀

[Douglas Barnes]

The blur on that photo was created in PhotoShop using the motion filter by isolating the fish, inverting my selection, then blur-o-way on the outside. Voila’. The off center sweet spot is the dead give away. Same thing here:

[john michael white]

Wow.

[Douglas Barnes]

With a LOT of practice on a immobile subject…perhaps. Doing the blur in post works sometimes better for me with moving subjects like rafts and fish outta water.

[john michael white]

Thanks Doug.

[Ben Cochran]

John, sorry that I missed this post, meant to reply a while back but have been pretty busy lately.

The radial blur does work well but it can also be very easy to detect, most often. I still like that effect though. Douglas, you did a great job on that last photograph! As far as getting the shot in camera, you do not have to zoom the entire focal length of the lens. A gentle continuous zoom is sometimes best and enough. I say gentle so that you do not get motion blur from shaking the camera. You can create many effects by the amount of zoom and amount of shutter lag that you can get away with.

Another approach is an old school one. You can put Vaseline or Chap Stick around the outer perimeter of the lens and then smear it in a pattern, make sure to keep the focal point area clear so that you can get good focus there. Granted, it does create a mess and has to be cleaned but the effect is really cool.

Try a gentle zoom at 1/50th and not worry about covering the entire zoom range. If that isn’t good enough, try a slower shutter speed and do the same. It is not easy but once you get the shot, it is normally a really cool one [ch9786].

[john michael white]

Thanks for the tips Ben.

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