Assignment, Week 5: Creative Blur

So far in class we've focused mostly on low-light photography and ways to combat one of its greatest obstacles - blur. While we generally want pictures to be as sharp as possible, it's good to keep an open mind to the creative possibilities of blur. While most of the time the blur we generate is random, by controling the shutter speed and movements of the camera and/or subjects, we can create and control blur purposefully.

Here's an example below:

The original, non-blurry image is to the left. The blurred version is to the right. Rather than random blur, we have intentional, controlled blur. From what we know about blur from last week's lecture, and some of the techniques given by Kellen in this past week's lecture, figure out how to write or draw something either by manipulating camera shake or light-painting.

Step 1: Figure out how to control blur via moving subjects or a moving camera, and write or draw something ("Hi" or a happy face would suffice)

Once you've figured out how to achieve the two images above, you can start getting more creative.

Step 2: Get creative and make creative blur shots of your own

Keep in mind you're not limited to just spelling words out...

Assignment Summary:

Create an image of some text or drawing by manipulating your camera or subjects to create blur
Experiment with other creative uses of blur
Upload photos here: /gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=56069
For some ideas, see this folder: /gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=32369
Helpful tips
- Use a long shutter speed - if you can't manually set it, try to go into "night mode" or "fireworks" mode.
- Use something dark as a backdrop - this prevents ambient light from showing up and creating "ghost" images
- If your camera has a BULB exposure mode, try it out. This opens up the shutter for as long as you hold the button down.
- A tripod is useful to keep the camera still while you manipulate subjects during light-painting