Here’s something to try if you want to infuse some interesting movement to your street photography.
The next time you head to the streets for your usual photo walks, you might want to take things up a notch and get “Flash” in your shots. You don’t need to be super fast, but you might need to brush up on your panning techniques first if you’ve been rusty!
That’s what we thought when we spotted this super cool photo snapped by New York-based graphic artist Justin Moraczewski. If it looks like Barry Allen/Flash just stepped out for a quick run to stay fit (not that he really needs to as a superhero, but do stay with us on this), that’s what he most likely thought, too. It does look like an ad for The Flash to us too, so we just had to ask him to tell us more about it.
“After shooting a lot of architectural images this day I felt the need to shoot something with a bit more movement and emotion. Shooting into the adjacent bike lane which was full of skateboarders, cyclists, and runners was the perfect place to find the movement I was looking for,” he began.
This photo was one of his snaps from that walk around the city, shot at ISO 100, f8, 1/5 seconds using a Canon 5D Mark ii with 50mm lens that he borrowed from his brother. What made this possible was panning with longer exposure. He explained the shooting process:
“1/5 sec was just long enough to get the movement I was looking while still keeping the important parts of the subject sharp and in focus. There was a tree that came into frame while panning which I thought had ruined the shot but it ended up working in the end, hiding parts of the man’s arms and legs, even obscuring parts of the image, giving parts of the photo a bit more interest and movement.”
Well, we hope that inspires you to experiment with your camera (and practice your panning techniques) the next time you see a neighbor on their usual morning run!
Photo by Justin Moraczewski used with permission.