Anyone who has ever even casually studied the art of photography has heard a lot about keeping the camera steady in order to create a sharp photo.  There are techniques for hand holding a camera properly in order to prevent movement and it is a good idea to use a tripod when possible for the absolute sharpest photos.  These are good things to learn and adhere to most of the time but, as with any rules, the real fun starts when we begin to break them to obtain creative results.  You can enter the world of abstract photography by intentionally introducing motion blur into an image for creative results.

In the world of art I’ve always admired the impressionists such as Monet and the post impressionists such as Vincent van Gogh.  The abstract swirls of color evoke different emotions than a more literal interpretation of the scene.  The photographer can create the same time of image using some simple techniques, some experimentation, and a lot of trial and error.

I took the pictures shown here using a slow shutter speed and I intentionally moved the camera a little during the exposure.  How slow you set the shutter speed and how much you move the camera is really a matter of personal preference and the effect that you’re after.  I usually prefer just a little camera movement so that the objects in the scene are still identifiable but more movement can be induced to create totally abstract swirls.

In the old days, when we used film, it was much more difficult to use techniques like this because one had to wait to get the film processed to see the results and since this method requires so much experimentation you ended up with a lot of wasted film.  Now, with digital cameras, you can get an immediate idea of the effect by using the playback feature on the camera.  The other advantage of using digital is that once the images are downloaded onto the computer those that didn’t work can be simply deleted.

As with most digital pictures, some post processing work needs to be done on the computer to optimize the image.  This is purely personal preference.  I find that some contrast and color saturation usually needs to be added as the slow shutter speed and camera movement markedly reduces both.

This is a technique, at least in my experience, where one needs to take lots of images because I delete far more than I keep.  It’s not easy to get just the right amount of movement for just the right image.  But, in my view, the effort is worth it.  The world of abstract photography opens up a whole new world of creative possibilities.

One last thought:  If you try this technique and get some images that you like try printing them out using watercolor paper in your inkjet printer.  It really brings out the “painterly” quality in the pictures.

Yet another last thought:  I’ve added an “Abstracts and Impressions” album in my Gallery featuring these and other images.  I hope to continue to add more of these types of pictures in the coming days as I continue experimenting with different techniques in the art of abstract photography.