Randi Rouge - Motion Blur

[Manfred M]

This is an experimental shot where I used motion blur as a design element.

The camera was set up on a tripod, with a 1.6 second exposure. I used a 60" reflective umbrella as my fill light and a feathered medium softbox, camera right, as my key light. I had also set up a 250W halogen "hot light" with a 1/2 cut of CTB gel to more closely match the output to the studio flash.

The camera flash was set to "Rear Curtain" (2nd Curtain in Canon speak, I believe). What this does is to fire the flash at the end of the exposure, rather than the default setting of the beginning of the exposure.

I had Randi wall in from camera left and then spin towards the camera. This is the result.

[Donald]

Good first try.

Experimenting is indeed the way your going to get what you want. The shutter speed seems fine. Whether it should finish with her so well defined is one for discussion. If she had a slight movement blur she, obviously, would not to so stark sharp and that may go with the mood of the photo. Discuss!

[Manfred M]

I thought I might throw in the uncropped shot as it gives a bit of a view of the studio setup and the amount of room I had to work with. My fog machine is sitting on the stool and the gridded strip box behind it is what I used to back-light the "smoke" in this shot: Randi Rouge

[Manfred M]

Good first try.

Experimenting is indeed the way your going to get what you want. The shutter speed seems fine. Whether it should finish with her so well defined is one for discussion. If she had a slight movement blur she, obviously, would not to so stark sharp and that may go with the mood of the photo. Discuss!

Good point Donald. In fact the reason I chose this technique is to get a sharp, crisp shot of the model. An alternative that I have tried before is to work purely with ambient light and to get the model to hold the end position to sharpen things up a bit.



I personally prefer what I got in the studio shot.

[Shadowman]

Nice concept.