Movement

Definitions

Motion blur is the apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image or a sequence of images such as a movie or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single exposure, either due to rapid movement or long exposure.

Freeze frame is an optical effect or technique in which a single frame of film is reprinted in a continuous series, which when shown gives the effect of a still photograph.

Research - Ernst Haas

Ernst Haas was a photojournalist and a pioneering color photographer. During his 40-year career, the Austrian-born artist bridged the gap between photojournalism and the use of photography as a medium for expression and creativity. He was born March 2, 1921 and died September 12, 1986. In addition to his prolific coverage of events around the globe after World War II, Haas was an early innovator in color photography. His images were widely disseminated by magazines like Life and Vogue and, in 1962, were the subject of the first single-artist exhibition of color photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He served as president of the cooperative Magnum Photos, and his book The Creation (1971) was one of the most successful photography books ever, selling 350,000 copies.

Motion blur photography:

Freeze frame photography:

Contact Sheets:

Night Shoot:

Studio Shoot:

Best Images

Images that require improvement:

There were two images that I selected that needed improvement for a variety of reasons. The first image that I selected I decided needed improvement because I did not use a tripod to keep the picture still, and this is apparent as the light from both the cars and the streetlights are moving around with my movements as I hold the camera. Additionally to this, I feel as though the light was too bright as I was facing towards the card and not behind them. If I was to improve this image, I would change the angle at which I took the image, so the lights in my image are not overexposed and I would also use a tripod to make the image more focused than it was.

The second image I selected that needed improvement because again, I did not have a tripod to be able to keep the image as still as possible. If I had a tripod, I would have been able to get a better outcome from the image. Additionally to this, I was not close enough to any particular object or light source, meaning the image is dark and not in focus. If I was to improve my image, I would use a tripod and get close to a light source to get a better image.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

The main idea that I had and the main reason for creating images of movement was that I felt that throughout Harlow and in the studio, there are various different places, objects and ways that convey movement in a strong way. Some are more traditional and others are presented in a much more abstract way, and I felt I was going to be able to capture this well using both natural and studio lighting, and by changing shutter speed and aperture, as well as ISO. I tried to relate some of my images to my artist research, which I feel I did well as I used the artist research images as the focus of the inspiration of my images.

The images that I retrieved from Harlow and form in the studio turned out well and I felt that overall, I captured the movement within the images well. However, due to this being the first time that I have attempted to show movement within my images, I feel that I could improve on some aspects of the images.

With reference to the Best selected images... 

The image that I took of Harlow town centre includes a freeze frame of a man feeding the pigeons surrounding him and was taken using manual mode on my camera, and using a shutter speed of 1/125. I wanted to experiment with both motion blur and freeze frame and this was one picture that I decided to experiment with the different shutter speeds and choose a faster one. It is evident that this is a freeze frame as there is no movement present within the image and all aspects of the image are frozen. In the edited version of this image, I decided to make the background black and white and leave the foreground of this image (the man) in colour, which makes him the sole focus of the composition. Addiitonally, a freeze frame allows someone to capture a precise moment and in this image, the precise moment is the man feeding the birds that surround him.

The image of the movement of the red car was taken from the top of a car park, the shutter speed at half of a second. This accentuates the movement within the image and it is also accentuated through the colour of the car. The fact that I was able to capture the car's movement could show the rush that the car was in to get to its destination and the colour red has connotations of danger, further hinting that the car could be a danger to others.

The two images that I chose as my images that needed improvement were images that I felt that I could take again and work on the composition of the image. I would change the settings on my camera to ensure that there was not too much exposure on the image. Additionally to this, I would use a tripod to control the movement in the image.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

For all of the above images, I used a CANON EOS 1300D. I feel as though I could still learn a lot about the different settings, including the right ISO, shutter speed and aperture to use,  and that this would improve on my image compositions in a hugely positive way. For most of these images, I was using my camera on a tripod due to the fact I was shooting movement and the movement should be controlled in some way.

In order to improve on the images that I took, I decided to import them into Photoshop in order to enhance them and improve on their composition and the way that they have been shot. In order to do this, I decided to edit the brightness and contrast in order to accentuate the movement within the image.

The screen grabs that I have selected show how I used Photoshop to create a high contrast black and white image. To do use this, I used the Curves tool and the brightness and contrast tool, gradually adjusting the aspects of the image to get the clear contrast effect right to accentuate movement. With these images, I chose to try out editing in colour, adjusting the contrast and brightness of the image, as most of the images that I have been taken I have edited in black and white, but I feel this wasn't right for my movement images.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding. 
 The artist research that I did was extremely helpful in the fact that I was able to gain an understanding of the different artists and their different styles. Knowing about when they were born and where they were born helps me to interpret their work and understand what they were thinking when they took a certain image. Researching images that they have created helps me to try and recreate these images and then shooting my own images in their style. For example, my research on Ernst Haas and researching his style helped me to choose to take photos in with a longer shutter speed and also to increase the contrast within an image. Additionally to this, I was able to get a better understanding of movement and how you can capture movement in many different ways. I feel as though I did relate to my research and I tried my best to capture images in this style. If I was to improve on this, I would revisit the images from the research and try to recreate them as closely as possible, further improving my movement images.

AO4:Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

Overall, I think that I have produced a good series of images inspired by my research and image bank of movement...  The final images produced were changed by developing the contrast to accentuate the movement within the image. I think if I was to improve on this, I would try and take photographs that relate closer to the artist, as looking back I feel as though that although I have captured the style of the photographer, I could try and replicate one of his images closer than before.