Behind the shot: Motion Blur

An easy way to create drama in a shot is to add some motion blur. This can be used to show motion of an object and draw your eyes to a point in the frame.

In this shot, I wanted to create visual tension. I contrasted the emotional softness of the color pallet and her expression with a little bit of blur to introduce tension and curiosity.

To achieve this effect you will need to blend the light from your strobes with ambient or any constant light. The strobe will freeze the subject while the ambient or constant light will leave the blur. Take into consideration your strobes power in relation to the ambient or constant light. The relation between the two is affected by both the strobes’ power and the amount of time the shutter is open for. It's definitely a balancing act. Too short a shutter and there's no blur, too long of a shutter and there’s too much blur. If the strobes power is too low it wont freeze the subject, too powerful and you get little blur.

A good rule of thumb for me is setting up for a normal shot with lighting and camera settings, then just drop the shutter speed to about 1/5th sec and observe the results. A few ways to experiment with this technique is to try light or dark backgrounds to achieve different levels of contrast. You can also use a colored constant light to change the color of the blur.

Just remember that when lighting, be aware of the light sources and how and where they affect your subject. If the strobe and ambient or constant light are illuminating the same spot on the subject, they will compete for what is frozen and what's in motion. So be specific where your key light is and where your ambient or constant light is coming from. Make sure to have intent with the effect, so it conveys the appropriate visual message and is in harmony with the rest of the image. But most importantly have fun and experiment!

- Thomas Ingersoll

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