Forgive the delay in posting this blog. I spent the weekend looking up how to spell the very descriptive words used by some of our members to explain how they took their Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) shots that we all enjoyed last Wednesday evening, 22nd May.
A very big thank you to David P for setting up this "show and tell" which was a follow-up to David's introduction to ICM back in October last year.
There were a healthy 53 images from 11 members for all to enjoy and a simple alphabetical order was chosen for who went when.
We started with Mark B. He admitted straight away that it was only when we had the ICM intro evening last year that Mark first heard of this photographic method. His selection of images came mainly from New York City (for anyone visiting NYC, Mark's big tip is to head to the top of the Rockefeller Center for the best views, unimpaired by a glass surround, especially to capture the evening lights) and Switzerland - here it was all about tunnels. Mark said he found it easier to to take this type of image at night as gauging the right shutter speed was far more straightforward than in daylight, when he found most attempts were too bright.
The general consensus was that Mark's image "Crazy, Man" was worthy of a commendation. So here it is:
We can thank Mark for his technical explanation of how he took this. And I quote:
"I just went Brgrgrg, Blrargg) Apologise for any misspelling of this detailed summary 😁
Mandy B took us among the trees at Polesden Lacey. She claimed to be "just playing about" and produced some well-balanced examples. She shared her secret to what we saw as simply going ",Pfpffppffpf".
Her "Horse Chestnut" image gave us a good range of colour to enjoy. Contrary to that was her "Through the Trees 2". This was described as having an "ominous background".
Your author was up next. I chose images which gave examples of both horizontal and vertical movement. My aim was to get a balance of colours, especially where I could take the tulips in bloom in the Munich Botanical Gardens earlier this month.
Anne H set out to experiment in the style of one of our past guest speakers, Polina Plotnikova. She took time to lay out her flowers on the kitchen table, using a picnic rug for a backdrop. Seeking both movement and clarity, Anne used shutter speeds of around 2 seconds and "juddered" the camera, explaining thus, "I just went Dddddddde". No post-processing and a simple vignette and border as added features produced what we saw on the evening.
Anne also covered Steve H's images. These gave us more fine examples of capturing light and creating movement in the shot. We also had Steve's "essence of tulip" image - a very subtle work.
Alan M could not make it but did provide a selection of images to view. These offered a range of techniques such as intentional zoom with a telephoto lens, twisting the camera during the exposure and also a great attempt at capturing light movement; Alan spelling out his name with his phone and setting up his camera to get this in the one shot.
David M followed with other examples of intentional zoom and "twirling" his camera during the shot. He admitted that he had over 100 attempts to get something that he was happy with and that he certainly did with his "Tyrells Wood" shot:
The gold background was deemed a great success, adding depth to the shot and making it worthy of inclusion here.
David P took us into another area, this being multiple exposures. His camera settings offer this option and simply divides the selected shutter speed among the number of images chosen. David told us that you can have the shutter set to take the shots in continuous mode or control that aspect yourself. Whatever is chosen, the trick is to keep moving the camera.
Chris R was another who said he had taken many, many images whilst experimenting with ICM. He gave us some wonderful examples from a trip to Farthing Down as well as simply using the lights in his garden. The best of the bunch was where he chose to move the camera in line with the path in the picture, giving us "Follow the path up the hill" to enjoy:
Philip R also could not make it along but submitted some images. These were, by his own admission, mainly produced using Photoshop. In this case, it was one where it was felt that the time playing and experimenting with the camera would probably give more consistent results that post-processing.
Dave S took us into his post process world with examples of trees being made into mirror images so as to create a final overall effect of a spider and its web. He did say that the outcome was more blurred that he thought.
Dave also provided a nice image of two dogs running along the beach. I was all too familiar with his explanation of that shot; he had been taking slow shutter speed images of a waterfall and simply forgot to change the settings! I for one did like the outcome with the dogs being captured running at full speed really well.
Always one to experiment, another of Dave's images was taken on an escalator. However, the trick here was that he had not moved the camera at all, but worked with the movement of the escalator! This produced a good image but Dave said he almost fell off at the top as he was so focused on the shot.
To end, we had a selection of images that had been brought along on the night.
There was one more from Anne H. Anne was rightly delighted that she had mastered Photoshop to blend two images of tennis balls, fully capturing the "Boing" of the bouncing ball.
Graham showed us some images taken whilst he had rotated the camera. These had some very sharp and in focus centres and featured both his garden and his dog as the subjects.
To close, David P gave us some examples of the various filters and adapters that can be bought in order to create the slower shutter speeds needed when trying ICM in daylight.
There are of course kits out there for over £100 but for starting out, this simple "Andoer" ten stop screw-in filter is under £13. Make sure you choose the right size for your lens.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Andoer-82mm-ND1000-10-Stop-Fader-Neutral-Density-Filter-for-Nikon-Canon-SLR-C3L2/183790891559?epid=16013114855&hash=item2acaca7227:g:TKsAAOSwMupcw37C
There are now also many apps for smartphones that will calculate the required shutter speed to use with filters of this sort. These are available from both the Apple App Store and Google Play and are from Lee Filters (Lee Stopper App), ND Filter Calc and ND Filter Timer.
Once again, a big thanks to David P for all the time he put into the two parts of this introduction to ICM. I recommend this to all as something to try. Just experiment and see what you produce. I think it can be most rewarding.
