Monday 2 June 2014

5 Tips For Working Motion Into Still Photography

5 of My Tips For Capturing Motion in Still Photography

One thing I like to do more often now, is capture a sense of motion in my photographs. It makes an image much more interesting, can lead you in or out of the shot and lends itself to adding more to the story of the photograph. Here's a few tips:


1. If you are not entirely comfortable with all your camera settings shoot in shutter priority mode. It will let you focus on the shutter speed only. Set your camera to high speed burst mode too. 

Toronto Photographer, Street, Urban Landscape, Night, City, Motion, Blur
A Lone Subject Surrounded by Motion Gives An Incredible effect. Timing Can Be Everything.

2. Practice practice practice. You will develop a feel for what shutter speed you need for a situation. Hand held I find 1/60 of a second plus or minus a stop works well. I still want to maintain a sharp image  with the subject blurred or a sharp subject and a blurred background if panning. 


Setting a Shutter Speed, Following the Action and Burst Mode Got This Panning Shot

3. Be prepared to fail. You may not get a great a image every time you try this but when you nail one the reward will be great. 


A Perfect Example Of Getting the Right Shutter Speed. The People are Visible but Just Enough Blur to Give a Sense of Motion. It Doesn't Happen Every Shot or Every Shoot. 

4. Like any photograph pay attention to what when and where you are shooting. All the effect in the world won't help bad light or a uninteresting scene. But like everything in photography there are no set rules, the subject may make the photo. Also be aware of your surroundings and don't get too caught up in the action and put yourself in harms way. 


Be Aware Around Traffic. Staring Through the Lens Can Throw off Your Sense of Balance and Location. 

5. If you find a great location look for something or someone coming into the scene. Previously I would wait and wait to get a shot with no people or distractions now I embrace "distractions". Use the burst mode to your advantage and fire off some successive shots and stay with it until the end. 


Night is Definitely One of my Favourite Times for Motion Blurring Effects. Find the Scene and Wait for Your Subject. 

Here the Motion Of the Skater and Dog Made the Scene But I Needed to Apply Some Nik Software Effects to Bring Some Life to the Overall Image. 

Go out and try this and get creative, motion in photography can make some great artistic expressions and some very unique abstracts. I hope my tips may help and inspire.
Robert Greatrix is the owner and photographer behind Fulcrum Imaging, for more of his work please visit www.fulcrumimaging.com


Wednesday 5 March 2014

What's in a Name

Embarking Into Business:

As I begin my transition from part time into full time photographer and more importantly full time business person I have given a lot of thought to a name for my business. Actually I have thought about it for years now but the importance wasn't clear in the beginning. After taking a short business of photography course at George Brown College in Toronto I got thinking more about branding and presenting myself to potential clients. Now a few months later I am in a small business workshop, looking to complete a business plan and the importance of mission statements, value statements and positioning statements has come up. So I looked for a name that signified the way I wanted to do business, and I found fulcrum worked for me. In my photography business it signifies a point that balances my creativity, my technical skill and the clients needs (budget included) and allows those individual areas to work together for maximum results. A fulcrum describes that point of balance where force applied and results are harmonious. Fortunately not only was the name a good fit but, the domain Fulcrum Imaging was available and the business name was able to be registered and so ended my search for my business identity.

My business name much like this piece of fitness equipment signifies balance.
 Fulcrum Imaging is Toronto Photographer Robert Greatrix who is available for corporate and commercial photography as well as time lapse video creation. To see more please visit www.fulcrumimaging.com. Please let us provide you a quote for your photography needs by emailing a request to info@fulcrumimaging.com.