So much fun! One of the best ways to photograph motion is when you are actually part of the action!
Similar to panning a moving car or a cyclist, and trying to keep it in focus as it goes by, but this time the process is reversed. The photographer is moving and the subject is not.
This is done from a moving car, going about 25 miles per hour. As you drive by a subject, such as a tree, point the lens at the subject and rotate the camera to keep the lens pointed at the subject as you pass it.
This is not easy – be prepared to delete a LOT of bad images. But if you can get the timing right, you create wonderful, crazy images with this swirly, rotational look.
Quite abstract – impressions of color and texture in which details are dissolved by the motion, but in most images, there is enough form retained to suggest a sense of subject.
Trees are a great subject, but you can use this effect on other subjects as well. This one looks like ghosts are leaving the cemetery.
Motion Swirl How-To Tips
- Shoot from a moving car
- Need two people!
- Drive past subject while rotating camera to stay focused on subject.
- About 25 miles per hour works best, but it can be faster or slower
- About 1/15 second
- Takes a lot of practice
- And you get a lot of throw-aways!
Here is a gallery of other fun images taken this way. It takes a lot of practice, but it can produce some surprising keepers.
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