Capturing Motion

Capturing Motion
Lesson Objectives 1. Use a fast shutter speed to freeze motion 2. Use a slow shutter speed to create motion blur and suggest movement 3. Experiment with the PAN technique 4. Use flash to freeze motion 5. Use long exposure to produce light-writing 6. Produce a short stop-motion film

It is a very old clich that photography can capture a frozen moment. This ability to freeze motion, can sometimes produce images which appear static and lifeless. As photographers we can use different techniques to either freeze motion, or to suggest movement which can make images more life-like.

Some methods of capturing movement that we will investigate: Freezing motion Motion Blur Panning Flash Cinematic Film & Video Stop Motion photography

Dagguerre c.1840 This very early photograph required an exposure time (shutter speed) of several minutes. Only one person who was standing relatively still appears in the image can you find them? Why do the horses, carriages and other people present not seem to show?

Jaques Henri Lartigue, c. 1910 Do you think Lartigue used a fast or a slow shutter speed?

Jaques Henri Lartigue, c. 1910 Answer: Fast shutter speed (e.g. 1/250 of a second)

Robert Capa, c.1936 Fast or Slow shutter speed?

Photographer Unknown Fast or slow shutter speed?

A famous photograph demonstrating what the photographer Cartier Bresson termed the decisive moment The shutter speed was probably about 1/30 of a second.

Henri Cartier Bresson, Behind the Gare St. Lazare, 1932

2010 Students photographs Using a SLOW shutter speed

Motion blur using the Pan technique Camera rotated during exposure

Flash

Some early equipment for producing a quick flash of light.

Harold Edgerton, c.1940 The electronic flash that we use today was developed in the 1940s. The flash lasts for only about 1/1000 of a second. Because of this, flash lighting can freeze motion

Incorrect flash synchronisation Many cameras will only work properly with flash with shutter speeds up to about 1/250 of a second. If you get pictures where some of the image is black this is usually because you have set too fast a shutter speed.

How might this photograph have been made? (Hint: think about how the flash was fired once or lots of times?)

photo by Eliot Elisofon, 1952

Light-Writing using a small torch and long exposure time of several seconds. The subject is the artist is Pablo Picasso

Chris Monaghan

This photograph was made using flash AND a slow shutter speed at a disco / party. The short flash has frozen the dancers motion, while the slow shutter speed has allowed the red disco lights to create an additional blurred image. In this example the shutter speed was of a second

Edweard Muybridge When we view images one after the other our brains can interpret this as a moving image. This illusion relies on image persistence.

Stop Motion photography Is a technique where individual photographs are taken, moving the objects between shots. The images are then viewed one after another, like a cinematic film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY

Note: For jerky movement move the objects quite a bit between each photograph for smooth motion only move the objects a little between each photograph.

Time-lapse photography is a cinematographic technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back (for example only take a photograph every 10 seconds, but play the images back at 24 frames per second). When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrGcd6PN7EE

Assignments / Experiments
1. Produce an image with light writing - use torch, darkened room and tripod. 2. Take a photograph outdoors using a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. 3. Take a photograph indoors using flash to freeze the motion. 4. Take a photograph using a slow shutter speed to create motion blur 5. Take a photograph using a slow shutter speed and the PAN technique 6. Produce a simple stop motion film with about 15 to 20 images use the image review to scroll through your images to view the film. Hint: use a tripod! Finish NO LATER THAN XXXXpm Delete poor images, keeping only the BEST EXAMPLE for each. Download onto your USB for printing.

Did you cover all the lesson objectives? 1. Use fast shutter speed to freeze motion 2. Use slow shutter speed to create motion blur and suggest movement 3. Experiment with the PAN technique 4. Use flash to freeze motion 5. Use long exposure to produce light-writing 6. Produce a short stop-motion film