Motion Blur

It looks cool in magazines. But it ain't easy to shoot them! Not when you have amature photographic equipment. But it can be done. Motion blur is the art of photographing moving objects so that they leave only their light imprint. It needs, well, a little bit of light, small apertures and long exposure times. I took this photo with an aperture opening of f9.5 and 8 seconds, with the camera standing snuggly on a sturdy tripod. The lens was also fitted with a ND filter to even out the chromatic aberrations caused by long exposure times (on an amateur camera like my Pentax K-r chromatic aberrations can be a problem).

The evening was cold and windy, it was late (11:30PM) and it took me over an hour to find the right composition and a lot of trial and error. But it was done. And the picture received rave reviews from my instructor and my classmates. Well done Hector!

It is photographs like these that really inspire me to pursue photography even more. Sure it is hard work. It is expensive, and REALLY time consuming. But it is so much better than sitting for many hours in front of the computer and playing MMORPGs. Photography can be difficult but it also very rewarding. And just as exhilirating as a good workout!