Beginner Moving subjects and intentional blur, help needed.

[Crotal Bell]

I tried shooting a moving train today and went for the slow shutter blurred effect, and as you can see I made a right mess of it.
I use Panasonic G80 MFT, and wondered if anyone can advise on the kind of settings that work well for those long streaky blurred effects that work so well.
Obviously from below I have a lot to learn.

 

[Deleted member 95743]

I tried shooting a moving train today and went for the slow shutter blurred effect, and as you can see I made a right mess of it.
I use Panasonic G80 MFT, and wondered if anyone can advise on the kind of settings that work well for those long streaky blurred effects that work so well.
Obviously from below I have a lot to learn.

View attachment 364770

It all depends on how fast the train is travelling.

At 100mph the train will move 14.67 feet in ⅒ of a second.
At 50mph the train will move 7.33 feet in ⅒ of a second.
At 25mph the train will move 3.67 feet in ⅒ of a second.

Also the camera to subject distance has an effect on the apparent speed of the train. The closer you are to the train the faster it will appear to travel. The farther away you are the slower it will appear to travel.

Or to put it another way: if you were to photograph a train travelling at 100mph using a shutter speed of ⅒ of a second you would get a certain amount of motion blur. If you were to photograph the same train travelling at 50mph using a shutter speed of ⅕ of a second you would get exactly the same amount of motion blur.

 

[Tom Pinchenzo]

If it’s not blurry and streaky enough you need a longer shutter speed. In the daytime your minimum shutter speed will be limited by the light. I.e. if your shutter speed is too long your image will be overexposed (see the exposure triangle). If your ISO is at its lowest (eg 64, 100, 160, 200 depending on camera) and your aperture is at its highest (eg f16, 22, depending on the lens) and your shutter speed is still not slow enough you will need a ‘NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER’ (e.g. a 6 stop filter) to make it darker so you can reduce your shutter speed for streakier trains. Alternatively, do it at night time.

Needles to say, you’ll need a tripod and either 1) set your camera to 2 second timer or b) get a remote shutter release. The latter is more useful if timing is crucial.

 

[troutfisher]

You could always try cheating ( or being creative)

Motion blur effect in 4 steps with Photoshop | Adobe

Learn how to make dynamic movements in Adobe Photoshop by creating the image of movement in a still image.

www.adobe.com

 

[sirch]

@Tom Pinchenzo has summed it up nicely.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

Were you trying to blur the train or the environment?

If the former, you need to keep the camera as steady as possible. As suggested above, use a tripod and a long shutter speed.

If the latter, you need to "pan" with the train. There are dozens of on-line tutorials; here's one to get you started: https://digital-photography-school.com/mastering-panning-to-photograph-moving-subjects/

 

[StephenM]

Just adding for completeness, that the amount of motion blur for a given shutter speed depends on
distance
velocity
direction of travel

You'll get more blur from a car passing in front of you than you will from the same car, at the same speed and distance, heading straight for you (though in the latter case you may get extra camera shake as you try to get out of the way ).

The effect of distance is demonstrated in these photos of a moving train showing the whole image and selective extracts from the nearest and furthest parts:

 

[woof woof]

What settings did you use Keith?

I don't know what the lowest ISO is, 200? So that's the first thing to set. Then you'll need a slow shutter speed and that'll mean a small aperture and very likely an ND to get the shutter speed down enough and that will probably create a problem for you as you very probably wont be able to hold the camera steady enough so out comes the tripod ior you'll need to find some other means of support

What you're doing is not an easy thing without looking at every step.

Lowest ISO possible + small aperture to get a slow shutter speed + very likely an ND + probably a tripod and even then you'll probably need a few goes to get a picture you're happy with.

I don't know if you have any ND's but if not you can pay pretty much whatever you want for a good one or a cheap set. I have a 10 stop which I think cost about £40 or more and I also have a couple of sets of 4 screw on ones which were cheap off ebay and they seem useable. I also have a square system. Some people report colour casts with the cheaper ones and even with some of the more expensive ones but I think I've been lucky as I haven't had any significant and obvious serious problems. In your place I think I'd go for a reasonably priced set from a name I recognise.

Good luck with it. It's a good idea

 

[Crotal Bell]

It all depends on how fast the train is travelling.

At 100mph the train will move 14.67 feet in ⅒ of a second.
At 50mph the train will move 7.33 feet in ⅒ of a second.
At 25mph the train will move 3.67 feet in ⅒ of a second.

Also the camera to subject distance has an effect on the apparent speed of the train. The closer you are to the train the faster it will appear to travel. The farther away you are the slower it will appear to travel.

Or to put it another way: if you were to photograph a train travelling at 100mph using a shutter speed of ⅒ of a second you would get a certain amount of motion blur. If you were to photograph the same train travelling at 50mph using a shutter speed of ⅕ of a second you would get exactly the same amount of motion blur.

Thank you

 

[Crotal Bell]

If it’s not blurry and streaky enough you need a longer shutter speed. In the daytime your minimum shutter speed will be limited by the light. I.e. if your shutter speed is too long your image will be overexposed (see the exposure triangle). If your ISO is at its lowest (eg 64, 100, 160, 200 depending on camera) and your aperture is at its highest (eg f16, 22, depending on the lens) and your shutter speed is still not slow enough you will need a ‘NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER’ (e.g. a 6 stop filter) to make it darker so you can reduce your shutter speed for streakier trains. Alternatively, do it at night time.

Needles to say, you’ll need a tripod and either 1) set your camera to 2 second timer or b) get a remote shutter release. The latter is more useful if timing is crucial.

Thanks Tom

 

[Crotal Bell]

Were you trying to blur the train or the environment?

If the former, you need to keep the camera as steady as possible. As suggested above, use a tripod and a long shutter speed.

If the latter, you need to "pan" with the train. There are dozens of on-line tutorials; here's one to get you started: https://digital-photography-school.com/mastering-panning-to-photograph-moving-subjects/

Many thanks

 

[Crotal Bell]

Just adding for completeness, that the amount of motion blur for a given shutter speed depends on
distance
velocity
direction of travel

You'll get more blur from a car passing in front of you than you will from the same car, at the same speed and distance, heading straight for you (though in the latter case you may get extra camera shake as you try to get out of the way ).

The effect of distance is demonstrated in these photos of a moving train showing the whole image and selective extracts from the nearest and furthest parts:

Thanks for that

 

[Crotal Bell]

What settings did you use Keith?

I don't know what the lowest ISO is, 200? So that's the first thing to set. Then you'll need a slow shutter speed and that'll mean a small aperture and very likely an ND to get the shutter speed down enough and that will probably create a problem for you as you very probably wont be able to hold the camera steady enough so out comes the tripod ior you'll need to find some other means of support

What you're doing is not an easy thing without looking at every step.

Lowest ISO possible + small aperture to get a slow shutter speed + very likely an ND + probably a tripod and even then you'll probably need a few goes to get a picture you're happy with.

I don't know if you have any ND's but if not you can pay pretty much whatever you want for a good one or a cheap set. I have a 10 stop which I think cost about £40 or more and I also have a couple of sets of 4 screw on ones which were cheap off ebay and they seem useable. I also have a square system. Some people report colour casts with the cheaper ones and even with some of the more expensive ones but I think I've been lucky as I haven't had any significant and obvious serious problems. In your place I think I'd go for a reasonably priced set from a name I recognise.

Good luck with it. It's a good idea

Thanks Alan