You know what’s great? Digital SLR cameras! It seems almost everyone either has one, or is considering a new purchase. These are AMAZING tools. Modern DLRs allow types of photography that have never been possible before. They also encourage experimentation for FREE. No more fretting about wasting a frame or roll of film. No more waiting until the results come back from the lab. Now it’s instant feedback so you can experiment and hone your craft in real time. Heck, even little P&S (Point and Shoot) cameras put an incredible photographic tool in your pocket.

Get ready to put your camera in Manual (M) or Shutter Priority (S) mode, here comes the first in a series of How-To Photography Articles on my blog…

Today we’re going to talk about motion blurred backgrounds. They’re lots of fun, and can make an impressive visual impact! By way of example: this photo of mine was an early success and won 1st place in a Frederick Magazine photography contest a few years ago -

Much of making a great photo is about controlling the composition and elimating distracting background elements. How about removing distracting elements completely by turning them into an abstract, colorful, energetic blur?

The photo above was taken on a busy afternoon at Baker Park in Frederick, MD. Rather than distract, the people in the background become colorful blurs and add to the exciting feel of the image.

In order to blur the background in-camera (which is something that you can do in seconds), rather than in Photoshop (which might take hours to do believably), we just need to get our subject and ourselves in the same frame of reference and make the world move relative to us while camera and subject seem to stay still. What?! I’m simply talking about taking a ride on a merry-go-round, swings, seesaw, etc.

Next, we either need a slow shutter speed or fast motion with respect to the background. Believe it or not, when I made the images above on the merry-go-round, the carousel was barely moving! My shutter was simply slow enough (about 1/10 of a second) that it *seems* like we are on a thrill ride with the subjects.

Another key to making images like this is the scale of the background and the direction of motion. The larger the elements of the background are, the easier they are to blur. Angular motion is easier to blur than motion in the direction of travel. This affects your both your shutter speed and lens choice, or where you are in the zoom range of your P&S camera. Wide angle lenses offer a wide field of view, while telephoto lenses narrow your field of view. A telephoto can give the sense of much more motion than a wide angle lens at the same shutter speed.

BTW, don’t limit yourself to the playground! Here’s a fun photo I made recently while out exercising with my daughter.  She loves to scooter! And I love to chase her around and take her picture. For this shot, I was riding my bike next to her and at the same speed and used a VR lens to help stabilize my shot. Doesn’t this shot carry a message of speed and fun much better than a snapshot from the side of the trail?

Child zooms down a path on a scooter. Motion blur lends an element of excitement to the image.

If you want to try this yourself, try setting your shutter speed to 1/10 or 1/15 of a second. Faster if you are moving faster. Experiment! You’re going to get a lot more light than taking photos at 1/60 or 1/125, wait until dusk or dawn or a cloudy day to try it. Or, if you happen to have a neutral density filter in your camera bag, pop that over the lens. This technique works much better if you have a tripod or something to brace yourself against. Modern VR (vibration reduction) lenses can also work wonders for shots like this.

Motion blurred backgrounds can create a dynamic, energetic, and fun look. They can carry a dynamic message of change and excitement. Or, taken in another direction, anxiety or uncertainty. What are you waiting for? Go out and try it! If you’d like, come back and share a link to your handywork here.

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