David's Photo52 2011: Index Post 1: Weeks 44 to 46 belatedly added

Hiya David,

Wow I have some catching up to do here ....

Week 24 - Bright: Another great photo, I'm not sure about the writing ...as in the previous light image ... however if it is what you intended then that is fine. If it was my photo I may have been tempted to remove the base of the bulb and had a total dark background as I think the filament etc speak for themselves about what the object is.

Great idea and processing on the Scanners photo ... I'm not familiar with the movie either so can't comment more ... however it looks very spooky ... wouldn't like to bump into you in a dark alley with those eyes :LOL:

Week 25 - Rescue: Absolutely fantastic photograph, nice and simple yet very effective. Great use of lighting, composition and fantastic detail and depth of field. Well done on a very sharp and to the point image.

It is a pleasant change to see you post a photo that has not been heavily processed, even though I look forward to your post processed photos as they are great learning for me.

Well done on all counts.

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Rescue... nice subject, poss shame its on the other side ofh te fence but hey.
KISS always works well... unless you've got loads of time :D
I like it and the border compliments it.


Light (bulb)
I like this as you've got the wire lit up without the glass getting in the way to much. Nicely done!

Scanners
I think if you took a pic of a lightbulb to get a slight curve on the eyes it would work better, but nice pping on them... The lit up area on the hood... should it be that light? Just thinking that the light coming from the eyes shouldn't light up the rear of the hood so much - just a thought. Well executed and crisp ... better than any self portraits I've tried.

Keep up the brilliant work!
 
Nice clarity in your rescue. I quite like that the buoy is on the other side of the fence. I like the vignetting. I like the bolts on the fence and nice depth. The crop/composition's a bit...:thinking: and I can't put my finger on it.
 
Bright bulb is a great crisp shot I agree it's a shame about the logo...
Bright eyes is a great manipulation of the original photograph...

Rescue - spot on theme and made more intesting by the intersecting timbers of the fence.
 
A Man in Uniform

He moved towards him
Took his hand
His head turned
Their eyes locked in a stare
They could never go back



Week 26 - Sensual by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
A picture of two Storm Troopers holding hands
Why:
This week's theme will be pushing a lot of people out of their comfort zone. I decided to take a more humorous approach to the theme.
How:
Photo was taken in bright sunlight with a shoot-through collapsible diffuser held to the left of the shot to soften the harsh shadows. I used my new Olympus XZ-1 in Super Macro mode. The image quality for a compact is very impressive.
I then decided that to increase the idea of sensualness, the image would work better if the characters were in moonlight rather than broad daylight. I used the majority of the technique described in this how-to-create-a-moonlight-tutorial. I blended in a picture I took of the "super moon" back in March, adjusted exposure and saturation levels and added a gradient map to colour the image blue.
Learnt:
How to turn a daytime shot into a moonlit scene, though my processing needs some working on.
Improvement:
Lighting. Because I did not shoot with the idea of processing the image in this way, my light source is coming from the wrong side of the image. The sun was shining from the left, yet the moon is in the right hand corner of the frame. I have dodged and burned the final image siginficantly to minimise this (creating some 'dirty' patches on the white Storm Trooper) but really the shot should have been re-taken.
Focus of the Subject. To convey the idea of sensualness there are two main elements in the image; the connection between the eyes and the holding of the hands. Even though the shallow DOF means the background is blurred and not distinct it is still busy enough to 'hide' the hands. The shot would have worked better with a simpler background or to place the characters further apart but place the hands in such a way that they are more clearly holding. The darkening of the scene to convey the moonlit scene also doesn't help but even in the original daylight image, the hands were not clearly differentiated from the background.
 
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....that's no moon........ that's a space station.... :D


...and technically he's a clone trooper ..but if i split hairs..my POTY shot would be flawed... without explaination...if ever i pull it off...
 
Great, as usual.

For me it's the 'face' of the white Trooper, there's almost resignation there...

The background is a minor issue - doesn't detract for me.

Great humorous take...(y)

One minor niggle would be the thin split on the table.

Cheers.
 
Hiya David,

:LOL: great take on the theme and love the photo too.

Wow you have been quick with this one ... I'm still trying to think of ideas.

Thanks for the link too .... I'll take a look at it later.

Well done :clap:

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
....that's no moon........ that's a space station.... :D

Actually it is a super moon, although I don't recall it getting so close to earth that it would actually be that large in the sky :eek:

One minor niggle would be the thin split on the table.

The 'table' is the deck on my balustrade, and on reflection I probably should have cloned the split in the wood out.

Wow you have been quick with this one ... I'm still trying to think of ideas.

This week is definitely one where I think getting in early could be an advantage... I actually had a few ideas for this, but decided to go with one of the simpler ones.

It also means that remarkably I'm the first to hit the half-way point. I say remarkably as there have been a couple of occasions where I have taken photos outside of the designated week. I suspect there will be more of a lag in others posting up than usual this week.

26 down, only 26 (or is it 27 to year end?) to go :bonk:
 
Hi David... If im honest it's not my cup of tea... but that's not to take away from the effort you have put in... I recognise the effort put into the image... and the production of it is excellent... it really just does not float my boat image wise... I love to read your evaluations... I actually have learned a lot from your posts in terms of just how to self evaluate better... and realise how you can improve a shot!

Great work as usual...

Mark
 
Lol like it. stormtrooper and Lego star wars pics always make me laugh, do you guys buy them just for the pics or are you gonna tell me they are your kids hmmm. The force is definitley strong with those two ;)
 
Hi David... If im honest it's not my cup of tea... but that's not to take away from the effort you have put in... I recognise the effort put into the image... and the production of it is excellent... it really just does not float my boat image wise... I love to read your evaluations... I actually have learned a lot from your posts in terms of just how to self evaluate better... and realise how you can improve a shot!

Great work as usual...

Mark

Hi Mark, image wise I'm fairly relaxed as to what I produce for the TP52. Some of my shots have been among the best I have taken, but equally there are some which don't light my fire yet these are just important in the learning process. There is only one shot I have taken this year that makes me wince each time I see, and that's because of the border and not the image itself.

Looking back and reflecting on the first 6 months, do I think my photography has benefitted as a result of the 52? Definitely. Do I think my phootgraphy has still a lot of potential for improvement? That too.

Roll on the second half of the year.

I like the idea and the effort you've put in to the PP helps the image.
My one niggle though is the moon; I know you've added it in, but it doesn't match the DOF of the trees as it's too sharp.

I knew it didn't look right, but couldn't think why!! Thanks Neil, a classic example of something staring you in the face.

Lol like it. stormtrooper and Lego star wars pics always make me laugh, do you guys buy them just for the pics or are you gonna tell me they are your kids hmmm. The force is definitley strong with those two ;)

Yep, bought a bulk set of figures off eBay. If/when I tire of taking Lego shots, I'll sell them back on. They're not eaxctly cheap, but they do hold their value so see it as an inexpensive loan of the figures :D
 
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Shining the Light of Truth on Justice


Week 27 - Elaborate by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
A picture of the setting sun over the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey.
Why:
I wanted to capture an image on the definition of elaborate being "to add details; to expand" rather than "marked by intricate and often excessive detail; complicated". Advocates expand their case to the judge and jury, and the most famous court in the land is the Old Bailey, seen here from the Roof Terrace of One New Change which is open to the public for free from early morning until late at night. The Roof Terrace at One New Change offers fantastic views of the Shard, Strata, Tate Modern, St Pauls and across towards Holborn. This quick and dirty panorama using the panorama art filter on the XZ-1 gives you just a taste of what can be seen:

One New Change Panorama by morganthecat, on Flickr
How:
I used my newly acquired Olympus XZ-1. The image is a composite of two exposures, one taken for the foreground, one for the sky, and then aligned and blended in CS3 rather than more HDR. I then applied heavy PP on the image before applying one of the in-built LR3 presets, "Color Creative - Color CP 1" which helped the Lady of Justice statue atop of the 67 foot high dome stand out from the clouds.
Learnt:
Improvement on my blending of skylines with skies when taking two exposure composite images.
Improvement:
Sunset. This image needed to have the sun setting behind the Lady of Justice to enable a more effective contre jour interpretation of the light shone on justice that an advocate aspires to do when elaborating the prosecution or defence case to a judge and jury.
Processing. A consequence of not getting the contre jour shot is that all the other problems flow from this. My PPing was really a case of trying to rescue the shot in order to get the Lady of Justice to stand out better. Originally I shot this with HDR in mind, but even with a 3 shot HDR the sun was too bright and it looked horrible. I needed to have dialed in some negative exposure compensation.
The right camera. The XZ-1 is a wonderful compact, but I am still learning how to get the most from it and high contrast sunsets such as these are probably beyond the dynamic range of such a camera. This shot had to be cropped quite a bit and given the size of the Lady of the Justice relative to the rest of the shot there just isn't enough image quality in the shot. I need to go back with my dslr when The Photographer's Ephemeris says that I will have the sun in the right direction.
 
The Celebrations Begin at 40


Week 28 - Celebrate by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
A series of date relevant birthday cards.
Why:
I have struggled since the start of the second half of the TP52. In the end I needed to get something down so went into WH Smith (other card retailers are available) and got snapping with my XZ-1 in the cards and gift wrapping section.
How:
Shot on the widest angle which at 6mm is equivalent to 28mm in 35mm terms. Clarity, vibrance, saturation and sharpening were all tweaked to give more punch before applying a post-crop vignette.
Learnt:
Don't overdo your vignettes and when shooting items in cellophane position yourself to avoid unflattering relections from the shop lights.
Improvement:
Vignette. I have been too heavy handed on this occasion obscuring the top left hand corner. Also, the Post-Crop Vignetting tool in LR3 is nowhere near as pleasing as the Lens Vignette tool. The latter obviously doesn't work though if you have an off-centre crop, and so I should give consideration to applying vignettes in Photoshop rather than Lightroom.
 
The Olfactory Organ


Week 29 - Smell by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
A photograph of my nose.
Why:
I took a close-up photograph yesterday of my eye looking towards my bathroom window with a blind down. It gave a wonderfully soft light which together with a Summer Rain R3 preset gave some nice tones.
I thought why not focus on the sensory organ associated with smell.
How:
Shot with the camera focussed on my nose pointing towards the ceiling. PPing for this shot was predominantly the Summer Rain preset followed by tweaking on Exposure, Brightness and Recovery as the preset gave some funny halo effects around the hairline.
Learnt:
The softness of using a big light source is something I have known about, but I only have a shoot through umbrella. I have learnt that my next purchase will probably be a softbox, or I need to get on with building my DIY Ikea beauty dish - I have got the lamp, and I need to get some metal strap to put it together.
Improvement:
Composition. My previous self portrait work has been shot with the Olympus E-30 and the wonderful articulated screen. Shooting wthout this, and particularly as shooting so close, made composition difficult and I have ended up going with a 16x9 crop of the original 4x3 image in order to place the focus on the nose rather than on the mouth that was in the original image. But the cost is that I am not particularly comfortable with using 16x9 crops when balanced against my other TP52 images.
 
Hi David, really like your elaborate photograph. I like you thinking behind this one. Composition is great, and a nice bit of processing there with the blending of the pics. That's a great view you have from where you were.
I would never have thought about doing the shot you did for celebrate! I like your end result and the amount of vignetting is just right.
And well done for doing the picture of your nose! Must have been tricky to get correct.

In general, how are you finding your new Olympus compact?
 
It hasn't been a conscious decision but nearly all my photography has been with the XZ-1 recently. I have never owned a premium compact before and so can't compare it with the obvious other contenders in terms of the S95 or P7000... but nor did I choose it solely because I own an Olympus dslr. I would have happily bought another brand, and was giving the considerably cheaper Samsung TL500 a lot of consideration.

The size is good and pocketable, and the art filters can be good fun (especially the diaroma filter which is a faux tilt-shift effect).

Ultimately it was the widest focal length range with the fastest aperture that did it for me. The weakness is the low light performance though at long focal lengths you have 2 stops over the Canon.

At the end of the day the best camera for the job is the one that you are carrying and too often I was missing shots because I didn't have a camera with me. That said I got a Nokia N8 shortly after and this is the first time I have owned a phone with anything like a decent camera on it... if I had bought the N8 first I might have decided I didn't a compact at all, but the macro and fast lens allow me creative possibilities that I wouldn't normally think possible in such a small body.

On balance I am very happy with it, but you do have to realise its limitations and it will nevere replace the image quality of my dslr. Also I do miss a viewfinder but it's a compromise I am prepared to make for the convenience.
 
Saw a pic in the flickr group - think its from you but I can't find the thread...

Its Weird (looking back at the sea). And its well on theme!! (y)

Sky looks great as has the post processing!

Only niggle was with the feet... looks blurred but I think it may be my eyes and that the colour is close to the beach colour.

Any chance you can post up the other thread so I can subscribe?
 
Saw a pic in the flickr group - think its from you but I can't find the thread...

Its Weird (looking back at the sea). And its well on theme!! (y)

Sky looks great as has the post processing!

Only niggle was with the feet... looks blurred but I think it may be my eyes and that the colour is close to the beach colour.

Any chance you can post up the other thread so I can subscribe?

Hi, there is no other thread. I have just been overwhelmed recently by work and life and I have fallen horribly behind on the 52 :( That said, these other distractions haven't been unwelcome but I have found it hard to get the balance right but I hope to catch up in the next 7-10 days.

So there will be a thick and fast flurry of activity ;)

Re the feet, you're right to notice the blurring. When I post the "how" below it will become apparent why you thought that.

Cheers
 
Looking Backwards Out to Sea


Week 30 - Weird by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
A surreal photo of myself at the beach
Why:
A chance to use my newly acquired wide angle lens together with a Magritte-esque surrealism for the theme
How:
A composite photo but all taken on location. The "background" is a 5 shot +/- 2eV HDR image using more subtle HDR techniques in Photomatix. I then took two photos of myself using the remote and self-timer both facing towards and away from the camera. I placed my feet in the sand and tried to adjust the lean of my body so that I was broadly the same height/width/positioning in both shots. Use of a wide angle makes this much more difficult to achieve as small movements can have dramatic effects on the image. These two portrait shots were shot very close in time to the HDR frames to ensure the lighting was broadly similar in each shot despite the rapidly changing weather.
The HDR was processed first and this HDR image was then imported into CS3 together with the two portrait shots as 3 layers. I then used the eraser to blend the 'backwards' image of my head and bottom onto the 'frontwards' image of my chest and legs (kness and below). It was necessary to transform (move and slight scale) othe backwards shot to get a better alignment with the frontwards shot - not least because my left and right shoulders are at significantly different levels by an inch or two making alignment pretty much impossible. The beach and sky of the blended body image was then erased to reveal the HDR layer below and produce the final edit which was tweaked for clarity/saturation/vibrancy/vignette etc in LR3.
Learnt:
Further chance to hone my editing skills in CS3
Improvement:
Body shot. It is clear the head is 'reversed' but not so my bottom as the detail in the shorts is not clear enough. A fully naked shot with bottom rather than anything offensive would have worked better but I feared complaints from the few souls on the beach who were some distance away. This may be a candidate for a future re-shoot.
Blending technique in CS3. The fact that my wireless mouse is playing up doesn't help, but I'm wondering whether it's time to invest in a Wacom Bamboo tablet to get better control when editing. Nonetheless, I think my technique also needs improvement when bledning one layer into another.
HDR. By applying a HDR process to the background but not matching that processing with the body means the lighting doesn't quite complement and makes the body sadly look as though it has been photographed away from the location and photoshopped in. This needs a re-think.
 
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Tankerton Beach Sunset


Week 31 - Wind by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
Long exposure sunset over Tankerton Beach at low tide
Why:
An attempt to capture the sense of the wind by taking a classic long exposure skyscape with blurred clouds
How:
It was low tide so I could walk a significant distance out from the foreshore giving some wet mud in which to capture the reflection of the gorgeous evening light.
I placed my 12-60mm at its widest angle and together with a B&W ND110 filter I could get a 25 second exposure.
Adjustments made in LR3 for the usual (clarity, vibrance, saturation, vignette etc) including a 2 exp graduated filter to lighten the mud and maintain detail in the clouds.
Learnt:
Using live view, composition is easily achieved even with the filter fitted. In order to get a correctly exposed picture a +1.7 eV exposure compensation is required as with the filter added the normal metering leads to severely underexposed photographs.
Improvement:
Foreground interest. A wide angle image like this benefits from having foreground interest. I did take a further image 2 minutes later with the pole in the mud much more prominent in the shot, by which time I was both in the wet mud and it was raining heavily. The light was even worse and the image had too much noise, but also the changed position lost some of the gorgeous tones on the norizon so I ditched it in favour of the shot above.
Exposure. Even with the global exposure compensation set at +1.7 eV, the mud is still underexposed that when lifted in LR3 you start to see a lot of noise.
Hot pixels. Olympus do seem to suffer more than Canikon in this respect when taking long exposure photographs. I could have taken a ‘blank’ image to subtract, but think I will stick to spot fixing in LR3.
 
Mitsubishi Evo VI


Week 32 - Evolution by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
Evolution VI decal on a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI
Why:
The term evo is extremely evocative amongst petrolheads. I was lucky to chance across an Evo at my local garage… this being the rally inspired evolution of a dull Japanese saloon in to one of the most outrageous weapons one can own for the road.
How:
Shot early evening in appalling light under the garage forecourt roof, so I used the widest aperture possible on my XZ-1 in order to keep the ISO and noise down.
Post-processing was to boost the red, desaturate the other colours (it was a grey car but the metallic paint gave some strange reflections) and apply usual processing of clarity, vibrance, saturation etc).
Learnt:
Composition remains one of my biggest obstacles to overcome, but having realised the problems caused by unwelcome background distractions from other cars etc, I settled for a simple face-on shot
Improvement:
Composition. The angle leaves me feeling uninspired, plus I have clipped the VI decal at the top right. The vignette helps to disguise this, but I should have shot from further away so I had more space to play with and make the vignette less instrusive on the lettering, especially the right hand side.
 
Hiya David,

Just popping past quickly to catch up on your progress with your project as I seem to have missed a few weeks.

As per usual, you have put a lot of thought into your shots and the quality is fantastic.

Well done!

Cheers

Dawn :)
 
Just popping past quickly to catch up on your progress with your project as I seem to have missed a few weeks.

You hadn't missed anything, I have been quite remiss of late and have fallen well behind. But week 33 is on flickr (yet to be added here) and week 34 is in the camera... only 3 weeks behind now!!
 
Ah ha.. yes makes sense now. You'd need to HDR yourself forewards and backwards to match the hdr'd background.

Or do the merge of yourself, then put that into the HDR pictures then HDR merge... You'd poss be able to do this by putting the whole lot into your fave processor, merge yourself, then mask off. Then put the background as each of the hdr pics and save. The layer for yourself would need an adjustment layer to darken/lighten to match the exposure.

Alternatively, take the three hdr pics front and back (so six pics). HDR them then merge using a mask ...?


Anyway, what you've done works, although tbh I missed the reversed shorts...

oh yeah - evolution - nice!! :)
 
Ah ha.. yes makes sense now. You'd need to HDR yourself forewards and backwards to match the hdr'd background.

Or do the merge of yourself, then put that into the HDR pictures then HDR merge... You'd poss be able to do this by putting the whole lot into your fave processor, merge yourself, then mask off. Then put the background as each of the hdr pics and save. The layer for yourself would need an adjustment layer to darken/lighten to match the exposure.

Alternatively, take the three hdr pics front and back (so six pics). HDR them then merge using a mask ...?

It's hard to do a bracketed shot when using the IR remote and facing away from the camera ;) I really must start using models other than myself. But I think what I could have done was to do a faux-HDR taking the body shots and adjusting the RAW files +/- 2eV to match the exposure of the background. Goodpoint.

I like the idea behind weird, good shot.
I'm not sure if you should be closer to the foreground or not :thinking:

Wind isn't really saying wind to me, but I like the image.

Neil, the problem is that using a wide angle produces such distortion that matching up the fore and aft shots of the body was really difficult. I agree I should have been fuller in the frame as it were so that more detail was discernible.

As for Wind, I also agree that it doesn't speak to the theme. Another candidate for a re-shoot. I had wanted to take this type of shot including the wind farm off the coast, but the wide angle meant there was no detail in the turbines to have added anything to the shot and the cloud direction wouldn't have worked if I had (too left to right, rather than streaming over the camera). I have got so far behind, I just let this one slide to help get back on track.
 
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Push the Button


Week 33 - Record by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
Macro shot of the video record button on my Olympus XZ-1
Why:
I wanted a more abstract, simpler, cleaner image for the theme.
How:
Shot using my 12-60mm lens at 60mm together with the EX-25 macro extension tube that allows for auto focusing - macro shooters would always say manual focusing I bet.
Lit with a FL-36R at 1/2 power approx 18 inches away shot through a shoot through reflector to soften the light, and triggered with a PT-04 wireless trigger.
Learnt:
How difficult it is to get a decent lock and remain in focus when shooting handheld macro shots, and the challenges that macro shooting produces in terms of lighting shots and getting balance in the lighting - it is a very unforgiving subject.
Improvement:
Composition. Pretty pleased with the composition; I would have wanted the record button to sit on the thirds but there was not enough camera to the right of the shot to achieve that in the final edit.
Focus. I shot hand held very quickly and I should have taken the time to set the shot up with a tripod and manually focus so that the detail in the circles around the record button are best captured.
Lighting. Difficult to get the light where I wanted given the distance at which the lens was from the subject. If I had used the 50-200mm lens + EX-25 I would have had more room to work with. Consequently there is a harsh shadow on the bottom right hand corner of the white circular rim that could have been avoided by tweaking the position of the light source. I did try balancing the shadows by having a second flash camera left on slave and powering down the right hand flash but it didn't work. I could have tried using a second reflector on the left hand side to help soften the shadows.
 
Mind the Gap


Week 34 - Work by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
Commuters waiting for a Northern Line train to come in to London Bridge station.
Why:
I wanted to capture the daily commute that so many of us endure on the way to work.
How:
Shot wide open to get as much light in as possible whilst keeping the ISO low so I could get a slowish shutter speed that would offer a compromise between keeping the commuters in focus but slow enough to get some motion blur in the tube train.
Learnt:
How much I need to develop my B&W processing skills. I think this has come out quite well, although I hadn't shot with mono in mind. I have been thinking for some time that next year's challenge will be to shoot more mono and to get to grips with it.
Improvement:
Composition. Nice leading lines taken from the tube track and consequently the train itself and its lights but I have clipped the feet of the closest commuter. Holding the camera slightly to the left would have brought the yellow "mind the gap" line into the central vertical plane thereby further differntiating the stationary commuters from the fast moving train. I like the sense of the chasm between the two and a different interpretation from the usual "Mind the Gap" photos you see on flickr focusing on the yellow line and the words themselves.
Timing. A split second earlier would have brought the front of the train slightly more into view, although on reflection I think it works well as is.
People. You don't have a lot of control over this but a chap nonchalantly reading his copy of the Metro at the front of frame would have been a nice touch, or perhaps taken at a busier platform/time of day to give the sense of how horribly claustrophobic the tube can get.
 
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david...

record...i want to push the button...but its red...and just can't...

work... i always want to take underground shots but daren't... good capture there and the mono adds LOADS!!!...

weird...was just weird...so very fitting..great sky...

wind..slightly too dark for me... but go with it,the fast movement of the clouds say there is wind... lovely reflection off of the wet ground.. (y)
 
Hi David,

Record - my only crit is that I'd rather the light came from the left as I don't like the shadow the button and it's surround is casting onto the black grippy bit.

Work - Excellent, I love this image and the mono works very well. I love the motion blur in the man's leg on the far right. The reflection of the commuters on the train (the trains never look that shiny when I'm on the tube). The crop of the man's foot is a negative, but it's not bothering me. The image gives the eye so much to look at and take in - well done.
 
By the Seat of the Pants


Week 35 - Blur by morganthecat, on Flickr

What:
Zoom blur photograph of my car.
Why:
I wanted to capture the sense of speed of my car whilst parked in the local school car park.
How:
Placed the camera on the tripod, composed using the 'telephoto' end of my UWA zoom lens (7-14mm), set the aperture and ISO to get an approx 1 sec exposure and then whilst the shot was taken twisted the lens barrel to zoom out.
Levels/contrast/vibrance/saturation etc adjusted in LR3 in order to give some more punch to the shot and give a greater sense of speed.
Learnt:
Be already twisting the lens before you start the shot to ensure the zoom effect blur is maintained throughout the shot.
Improvement:
Blur. As noted in 'Learnt' above if I had been twisting the lens barrel before the shot was taken I wouldn't have ended up with the registration plate being discernible which I find distracting.
Composition. It would have been worth taking this photograph where there was more drama in the background.
 
I keep meaning to read up on this technique, I'm sure I've seen them where the car is in focus but you can still have the blurred movement effect. A moving object with rear sync flash would do it, but does that work on stationary objects :thinking:

Either way I like the effect for blur.

You say have more drama in the back ground, but wouldn't that suggest the car was about to crash in to that drama?
I'd aim for no drama infront of the car but something either side as here it looks like you;re about to drive into those trees!

I note your comments regarding when you start the zoom, would this make the lights and number plate start out of the frame so the car looks like it's driven into the frame, or would you need a longer zoom for that?
 
david.. i like blur..moreso for your point about learning... to be already trwisting the barrel , then take the photo... i guess enough for the duration of the shutter being open.. (y)
 
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