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| Photographing Leaves - Panning Technique |
As the age old jargon of photographers goes;” steady, don’t move, smile please;” and click! Anyone who blinked his eyes would make the drill do once more! Time has changed and variety has become the spice; whatever technique you follow; the resulting image should be interesting; is the new dictum. “Painting with shutter speed” is set of utterly un-traditional methods to capture some magical images out of ordinary objects.
The color of the cat is not an issue; as long as it catches mouse! As your images catch eyeballs the technique used becomes justified. Make viewers wonder; the image is wonderful; but what it really is! Is it any painting from those modern art buffs!
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| Painting With Shutter Speed |
The technique of painting with shutter speed is quite simple. All you need is a camera on which you could set slow shutter speeds. It is really hit or miss affair, but when things really come together, results could be truly amazing.
The trick beh painting with shutter speed is to set a correct exposure on your camera that will allow using a slow shutter speed of around 1/10th of a second or further down 1/5, 1/3 or 1/2 on your camera. If you are shooting in dimly lit conditions you could experiment with shutter speeds as low as 2 or 8 seconds.
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| Shutter Speed Painting |
Select continuous shooting as your drive mode and Arch, Jiggle, or Jerk your camera in an up and down or side to side or Round and Round or zigzag motion, you could also try drawing different alphabets for creative effects and keep clicking the shutter in between.
You need to adjust the speed of your movement to match that of the shutter speed being used, the slower the shutter speed used, the slower your movements should be. The resulting images could mirror the work of an artist who uses a palette knife, as the exposure time builds up layer upon layer of information; creating an instant abstract painting.
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| Panning Technique in Leaf Photography |
Autumn / fall leaves and flowers are perfect to try this technique, even better if you could frame them against a deep blue sky as background. It would give the impression that leaves are swaying in the wind. Remember to experiment with different shutter speeds and panning directions and speeds to get some amazing results.
Try to use longer focal length lenses, the narrow angle of view is perfect for filling the frame with small to medium sized subjects; also the longer focal length also amplifies any movement, which is exactly what we want in this case.
The only possible drawback of this technique is the odd chance that you’d look funny or even nutty in the eyes of the on lookers, as you defy all laws of photography. They may wonder what on earth this guy is up to! Why can’t he hold it steady? Poor soul may be suffering from some sort of nervous disorder! But seriously do you really care? Don’t bother to educate any; keep your trade secret close to the chest.
Tips for Achieving slow shutter speeds
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| Autumn Leaves |
- Set the camera to the lowest ISO possible.
- Use Shutter Priority/Time Value mode and set the desired shutter speed.
- Point your camera towards your subject and get a reading by half pressing the shutter button.
- If the exposure readings blink, (warning that the set shutter speed is not possible in current lighting) try using a polarizing filter, or an ND filter. If you have an ND filter dark enough to get the required speeds then its fine; else try stacking ND filters or using the Polarizing filter stacked on top of your ND filter.
Related Reading
- How to Photographs Fireworks - Tips for Photographing Fireworks Displays
- How to Capture Motion Blur in Photography - Tips for Photographing Moving Subjects
- How to Get Shallow Depth of Field in Your Digital Photos
- How to Recover Deleted Photos From Camera's Memory Card
- CandleLight Photography - How to Photograph In Candle Light
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