DSLR Photography Forum

Hello folks.

I met this photographer fellow. He is a motor-sport shooter.... Ok so far, BUT I'm puzzled to see that several of his images exhibit what seems to be motion blur infront and behind an area of fairly steady focus.
At first I thought it was a Photoshop effect, but he swears it isnt, and I believe him..... probably.

Now then, he's a bit sensitive about copyright, so the images i show you are small and very compressed, "so no one will nick 'em"

Can I remember how to post images? Hang on...............





Whatdoyathink??????

Panning with zoom creep?

Hello!

Well, it's possible, I suppose. The fact that it appears on numerous images makes me wonder though. :/

It looks like the shots from either a lensbaby or ...What's that lens called someone on shuttertalk got, where you can float the focus wherever you want. etc.

I have to think that its done with panning , the ss wouldnt have to be slow because of the speed of the car maybe around 1/500th ( this is a guess ) or so. Center weighted focus " wide open " , Thats what my guess is. I have seen many pics like this , even with bikes and skies and track pictures .
Let us know if he tells you how he does it , i would really like to know if i am correct .....

....... Shawn

Yeah, interesting question Rufus! Maybe panning combined with extremely shallow DOF?

I can see NT73's point as well - looks a little distorted - maybe ultra wide angle? But then he'd need to be standing pretty close...

I read a piece in a British magazine (Digital Photographer) a couple of days ago - they had a masterclass piece on lens tilting systems.

The lensbaby is mentioned and the whole piece just hooked me in.

I can't afford the kit at the moment but when I can - I can see myself loving it.

These shots really look like the kind of thing produced by the lensbaby.

There are also some links to other manufacturers;

www.araxfoto.com
www.hartblei.com
www.dvdtechcameras.com

I am seeing what you mean NT and Bishop , there is a " bend " in the shot towards the nose of the car . So maybe thats what he does , or maybe its a combo of all the above . Lensbaby and panning at the same time ...... food for thought .

Can i change what i thought it was LOL . .....

...... Shawn

I think it's almost certainly a lensbaby shot. Like this here:



Mind you, I have yet to learn how to do it effectively. Got my lensbaby only yesterday. But I'm quite sure the effect you showed can be achieved with a lensbaby, no panning needed. If this shot is indeed panned with a lensbaby, kudos to the photographer. That would take a lot of skill.

G, congrats on the lensbaby. Did you get the 3G version?

If it's a lensbaby shot, it would need to be at a really narrow aperture. The distortion/smearing doesn't seem pronounced enough for a wide-aperture shot. I'm also wondering about the focal length -- at roughly 50mm, the photographer is braver than I am (or crops heavily).

Thanks, Matthew. Yes it's the 3G, along with several accessories.

The 3G comes with aperture rings down to f22, and one of the accessories is a teleconverter lens (1.6x). I think the shot could have actually been taken with a lensbaby.

Hello again.

Marc Smith informs me that the image is at 30mm, but not what the specific lens is.
There is no auxilliary equipment, and no photoshopping.
It looks like it MUST be an unintentional zoom movement.
Other than that.... Well, I dont know.
He claims it is a product of shutter speed. That seems impossible to me,
as neither fast, nor slow shutter could account for the effect..... Or am I wrong??

What do you think, folks? :/

Suspension movement?

Lensbabies have a true focal length of roughly 50mm, ruling them out. Where's exif info when you need it?

Guerito, one of the first things I did was write the aperture numbers on the rings. I also picked up the "creative aperture" kit, with the heart and star-shaped disks as well. I got a couple of neat star-photos of people in front of christmas trees, but otherwise haven't used them much. Geberally I find that my lensbaby doesn't get out much, but when it does, it produces some of my favourite photos.

Hmm, I can imagine that with 30mm and a bit of distortion, the motion blur gets stronger in the edges than it is in the center. Yes, I think this is it.

Matthew, I've got the wide/ telephoto lens and the macro kit. At the moment I don't think I need stars or hearts in the bokeh. Writing the aperture numbers on the rings is a brilliant idea. I will do this too! The lensbaby will be more or less permanently mounted on the 350D, so I can get out and take "real" and "lensbaby" pictures without changing lenses all the time.

The copyright definitely looks like some photoshopping / editting!

The effect in the original photo is fairly common when panning with fast moving subjects using a slow shutter speeds and wide-angle lenses. There are no special lenses or tricks required, and it doesn't require a shallow depth of field, but doing it well does require practice.

There are a couple of contributing factors to the effect. I believe the major factor is because in order to fill the frame with the subject using a wide-angle lens, you need to be standing much closer to it than with a telephoto lens. When it zooms past you, the closer you are standing to it the more quickly you have to spin your body to pan with it effectively. The angle of the subject (which is driving in a straight line) changes relative to the angle of the camera (which is rotating), yet the focal point in the subject (ie drivers helmet) remains stationary relative to the frame. This gives an effect of the subject rotating slightly, which ends up looking like zoom creep motion blur.
Of course, in the photo shown above the car isn't driving in a straight line at all, but is cornering. Nevertheless, the principle is the same. Any changes in distance between any part of the subject and the camera will appear as blur given a slow shutter speed, and the fact that the camera is very close to the subject means that these changes in depth are a lot more obvious (wide-angles tend to exaggerate depth, while telephotos tend to compress it). Dispite the car turning around the corner, it's nose is moving relative to the camera, as is the rear wing.
There are also other factors involved here (the angle of the camera relative to the horizon, the moment in time the shot was actually taken, etc)... but I'd suggest experimentation is the best way to really understand how it all works. I must admit I haven't tried to delve any more deeply into it.

Below are a few cycling examples of my own that might help. I estimate these cyclists travel at about 60 km/h around the track, which is probably not too different to the speed of that race car at the apex of that tight corner.


1. This was shot at 20mm, f/5.6 with a 1/80th sec shutter speed.


2. Again at 20mm, f/5.6, but this time 1/100th sec. The four cyclists along the bottom of the track are all travelling at the same speed, dispite three of them having motion blur.


3. This is a telephoto shot to provide a contrast to the other 2 shots; showing none of the effect described while still panning with the subject. Shot at 200mm, f/2.8, 1/160th sec.

I should point out that in order to pan with these wide-angle shots, I was spinning around pretty much as quickly as I was physically able to as they rushed past me. The trick is to pick up a point on one of the cyclists in the viewfinder before they get close to you, and then track them as best you can without shooting as they approach. When they get close, just squeeze the shutter (burst mode) try your best to keep locked on to your point. It happens to fast that there's no time to really think or adjust your technique while the shots are being taken, but with practice you can improve dramatically. It is also a LOT of fun being so close to the action like that.

Wow! It's amazing what skill and experience can accomplish in place of speculation.

Well, Kombi!

What a comprehensive and fascinating response. Thank you!!!

Interestingly, the owner of the image doesnt know how the effect occurs himself.
Now, I can enlighten him.

A highly valuable lesson to me, and him, (though I never shoot sports).

Crackin'!

Shutter talk succeeds where lesser sites may fail!!


Thank you all. Happy new year, congrats to ST, and see you all soon!


R.