When Oskar Barnack publicly introduced his first Leica camera, in 1925, at the Leipzig Springfair in Germany, it was the culmination of many years of refinement since he joined Lietz in 1911.
Barnack was a design engineer by profession and was originally working on a movie camera when ran into a problem. Emulsion speeds of films were unreliable and accurate metering was all but impossible. Barnack took it upon himself to build a small device intended to test small batches of movie film.
The film complete with its iconic sprocket holes, formed the beating heart around which Barnack designed the system which revolutionised photography - it is without a doubt that he was the creator of miniature 35mm was known for decades.
These sets of images were taken on a Yashica Mat 124G with a roll of the wonderful Kodak Tri-X 400. I know you’re probably hopping out of your seat at the minute thinking well why did you start off by talking about the 35mm camera! Well its kind of ironic that Barnack’s system was developed out of cinematography and just shows how this innovation has moved and developed over time!
I digress, this picture was taken in Central London, using a shutter speed of ten seconds. The film has recorded the motion of the skaters jumping over obstacles conveniently placed for them to practice their skills and tricks. The skaters blurred, of course, producing a soft and gentle abstract pattern which contrasts greatly with the crisp detail of the obstacles, and which suggests the neverending and timeless flow of movement.
It is not an effect that could have been produced by using a high shutter speed to freeze the skaters: in any case. In any case, if you did what to do that you would have had to use flash in these extremely low light conditions. With the obstacles crisp there would have been a powerful focus of attention on the foreground and background and consequently all character and depth in the image would have been lost.
In this picture there's a strong feeling of the passage of time. Blur is very powerful - especially when designed into an image or photograph. When it happens such as through camera shake it is nothing more than an obvious mistake or lack of knowledge. Therefore for blur to work effectively it has to be planned. And you can make effective use of it by showing it in the main subject or in supporting elements of the picture - such as the background - and for a variety of reasons.
Some fun ways to explore a purposeful blur might be trying to shoot cars or motorbikes on the move. Or perhaps even at home with your children, nephews or nieces while they are running circuits around you in their ever boundless energy. Can someone please tell me how I can get that back again! Blur can very much enhance your photography but has to be used appropriately for every subject to maximise its effect.
The human eye is not like the eye of a camera lens. When you are watching a fast object moving your eyes are able to focus on the object and blur away the less important information in the background. Unfortunately, the camera lens if used with a fast shutter speed will most likely capture everything in sharp and vivid detail.
The problem with this is that your image will look dead static. Consequently it won't look natural to the subconscious mind and your rational mind will most likely dismiss the image. You can get around this issue by using a technique known as 'panning'.
As soon as a moving subject such as a motorbike or car - is clearly framed in the viewfinder you must swing the camera to follow the subject, and press the shutter while still moving. As a result the photo will show the subject against a background which blurs in horizontal lines - and the effect is a very convincing impression of motion in the image. Don't forget, for panning to be successful, you must keep the subject in the same spot in the viewfinder during the move, and to fire the camera shutter smoothly, carrying on swinging till the shot is well and truly finished.
If you dont pan correctly or at all the background will come out sharp and the subject you wanted in focus blurred. The motorbike, car or your nephew running will attract far less attention. Ultimately, photography is another means of communication between you and the viewer.
The use of blur in photography not only shows motion but through it the passage of time. As any object that is moving is still taking time to move. As a result you can see the difference between each second in time which goes against the grain of Henri-Cariters Bresson’s instruction to find one split second in which to take the shot.
Cartier Bresson's 'decisive moment' refers more to the arrangement of his subject than to the timing. Time and its passing can be suggested in one shot - such as these skaters- but there's no need to stop at one. Perhaps shooting with a 35mm camera you will be able to capture a set of images which makes this a more practical way of shooting blurred images.
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