"Changing it Up" - Putting Motion into Photography

Click to visit Suzette's blog for more helpful tips

Intro by Skip Cohen

​So often, in virtually every aspect of business, we develop a formula, a routine to get the job done. Before we know it, we're stuck in that routine and doing the same thing over and again. We do it because it just works, but that old line of "It ain't broke, don't fix it," should be "If it ain't broke you haven't looked hard enough!"

Suzette Allen is back this week with some excellent tips to remind you to change it up! No matter where you're located it's a competitive market and most important of all your images have to look different. It doesn't matter what your photographic specialty is, you want your target audience to look at your galleries or an album and be excited about what they see. You need to make yourself habit-forming!

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This week Suzette is bringing a technique familiar to most of you, putting motion into your images. These images are all about changing the perspective of a typical photograph. It's not new to you, but in that formula/routine you developed for shooting so long ago, it's become a forgotten component in your skill set.

"Motion" is such an exciting element to a still image, and as Suzette shares in two videos, slowing that motion down is another great way to change it up.  Combining exciting still images together with short video clips creates a presentation guaranteed to exceed the expectations of your clients.

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by Suzette Allen
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While we are exploring ways we can change up our perspective and make our images more compelling, I definitely must mention MOTION. And that can mean many different ways of adding motion to an image. I think the element of slight blur can add to the storytelling aspect, and even tons of blur can give emotional appeal. I often photograph the landscape from a moving car with a slow shutter on purpose for dynamic blur pictures!

​Adding Blur can be done in camera and also in post. This image was a still shot taken from a video and was tack-sharp because I used a fast shutter speed (broke the video-shutter rule). I added motion with Photoshop to simulate the blurring of her hands. I think it is quite effective!

​Motion can add a lot of energy to an image as well, when panning, so the subject is sharp and the background is blurred. This effect is great, but takes practice to literally pan at the same speed as the subject so it is sharp, while using a slow shutter speed which blurs the background. (This one was taken by my husband Jonny at the Toyota Grand Prix in Long Beach this year!)

​The most obvious [and becoming more popular] way to add motion is VIDEO, though. I see more and more need for shooting video and the technology keeps getting easier as well! Here is a simple but effective clip in slow motion that gets your attention because we never get to see life in slow motion! Great moments, relived over and over in Slow-MO!

​While learning to shoot and edit video is a true journey, Photodex makes it amazingly easy to get going on it right away by shooting short clips and combining with stills to make great HYBRID videos in minutes! Pro Show Web is the fastest way to make a dynamic show with video and virtually no learning curve! This beautiful love story was created with Pro Show Web this summer in a big hurry for a deadline and Photodex saved the day (and literally made it possible!)