Autumn in Cumbria

[KMRennie]

Out this morning hoping that leaves had started doing their Autumn magic. Only the beech trees have started to turn so played with ICM. Any comments?

Ken

[Chairman Bill]

Not my kind of thing, but I'm sure that those who like this sort of thing, will (unsurprisingly) like it.

[Tony Jay]

I tend not to shoot this kind of image but I really like the result.
The colour and the texture are great.
As an abstract just enough detail remains to put the image into context.

It succeeds on several levels!

Tony Jay

[John R]

You tried this technique in what I would call extreme conditions for ICM. Looks like strong back or side light. White areas, (usually sky) result in white streaks and can be overpowering, and in most cases, ruin your images. Even specular highlights or the white sides of leaves can become large areas of white lights or streaks. Fortunately, you have equally strong lit yellow areas that are distributed and help balance out the white streaks. And your blur movement is long, so lots of overlapping of elements and light areas. I would try to clone out white areas with spot removal tool. Did you use the contrast slider? If you don't want the yellows to pop too much, reduce or eliminate the use of contrast slider and see how it looks.

The composition is good and the overall look is surreal but quite dense. It has a striking look and effect with verticals nicely tying into the circular movement of the yellow. Personally I would try to tone down the yellow areas and the glow effect. Next time try also a slower movement and/or a faster shutter speed and see if you like that effect.

JR

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

It works for me, and would go nicely in the Abstracts thread, as Tony hinted.

[KMRennie]

Thanks for all of the comments and hints. John I am interested in what you say about extreme conditions for ICM. As you have correctly worked out strong side lighting, in fact slightly contre jour. I am a sucker for back lit leaves in particular and against the light shooting in general.

Another one from the same time this time with slower movement and thus more "detail".
I will try and move the thread into abstract but I don't know how, however life shoulld be one long learning experience.

Ken

[stamper]

The second is better imo. More subtle and less harsh. Having said that the first one was likeable.

[John R]

Thanks for all of the comments and hints. John I am interested in what you say about extreme conditions for ICM. As you have correctly worked out strong side lighting, in fact slightly contre jour. I am a sucker for back lit leaves in particular and against the light shooting in general.

Another one from the same time this time with slower movement and thus more "detail".
I will try and move the thread into abstract but I don't know how, however life shoulld be one long learning experience.

Ken

It's actually a little more complex than that. The technique is easy enough, but doing it well on consistent basis is another matter. It takes practice. Going slower actually produces a more blurry look, and often too blurry. You have to combine the speed of the movement with the shutter speed. In general, if you shoot at 1/15 of sec, you need to speed up your movement a bit and start you movement closer to where you want to trigger the shutter. This will actually produce a cleaner more linear look with the image appearing sharper, relatively speaking. Going at 1/4 of sec, can look really nice and painterly, but is harder to control and is more blur (excessive) prone. 1/8 of sec is generally recognized as the optimum shutter speed for ICM. And there is difference between wide angle lenses and telephoto lenses. Wide may actually require 1/4 to get same look at 1/8 compared to lenses about 80-200. OTOH, Teles, are more vibration prone and tend to exaggerate even the smallest movements. Shooting in any kind of bright lit areas will result in images that look like you are painting with light. A straight up or down pan reduces chance of unwanted areas of light created by movement. OTOH, they are very difficult to do well as every little bit of light "draws" something on your image. Did I mention, you have to practice tripping your shutter at the appropriate time, as it is an unnatural movement and often counterintuitive and at odds with movement itself.  So practice and experiment- a lot! Hope that helps.

JR