Capture motion in your images

Words and images by Ben Boswell.

One aspect of photography that is often misunderstood is that when you take a picture you are not capturing an instant but rather a period in time. During this period things happen and the choices you make when taking your picture will fundamentally change the results you get. Movement in photographs should be captured deliberately, making sure that it looks like that was the plan. A picture that is just a little blurred will usually look just that, a little blurred. During your holidays see if you can make this work for you.


Gear
All cameras can capture movement but the amount of control you have will determine the amount of movement that you are able to show. The longer the shutter speed the more movement can be captured. For most pictures featuring movement you should use a tripod but there will be times when just shooting plenty of pictures hand-held will be a better strategy. Generally the longer the lens the more the movement will show, I tend to shoot with a slightly wide lens or longer for this sort of shot but it is not an absolute rule. If you do not have much control of the camera settings then you may have to work a little harder.

This picture was taken at a concert with an iPhone. The concert was visually rather bland but the music was fantastic. This treatment gave me a picture I liked that said something about the event. The picture of Horseguards was taken with a 35mm Holga Pinhole camera and emphasizes the contrast between the swirling mass of tourists and the motionless soldier, without anything being sharp.


Technique
The technique you need to adopt will depend upon what you are trying to say. The horse riders in the first picture were shot in 1981, hand-held and panning with the action. In those days you just had to hope you had the pictures because they were shot on film. Digitally you can shoot and review what is happening and if the movement is too much use a faster speed; if they are too ‘static’ use a slower speed. Typically you should try shooting at about 1/15th or 1/30th with a reasonably fast subject. Panning can be done on a tripod but the results will be quite different. It is essential if using a tripod (or monopod) that the camera should be able to follow the action accurately, if the moving action is at an angle to the camera movement you will struggle to get usable pictures. However you don’t have to keep the subject sharp. These 3 pictures of the Tour de France show alternative ways of shooting:


However it is not necessary for the camera to be moving at all. Fixing the camera on a tripod and letting the subject move will give an altogether different result – the mural in Aylesbury (painted by my wife) is in an underpass where buses terminate so the streaking bus lights were a natural way of indicating that – this same technique can be used at night to get car lights on the roads which can be a very effective way of showing movement. Machinery is also a good source of subject. This printing press looks much more interesting in action than at rest – or frozen with flash.


Flash can be used though; if you set the camera to slow-sync you can have the combination of a blurred image with a sharp one overlaid on it. If possible set the camera to ‘rear’ or ‘second curtain’ sync or the subject will appear to be moving backwards.

Here are a few other great moving subjects to shoot:

• Animals, birds taking flight, dogs running
• Vehicles – especially fast ones!
• Sports
• Trees in the wind – these will need quite a long exposure, at least half a second to work well
• Parades or pageantry

Whatever you approach though try and make the movement you capture say something about the subject – that is what will make the picture work.

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