Movement In A Still Image

Movement In A Still Image simon good

All images are the copyright of Simon Good Photography

Introduction A photograph is a captured moment frozen in time, but can it also have the appearance of movement?

At the equator, the Earth spins at a speed of about 1,000 miles per hour. As the location approaches the poles, then the speed reduces as the distance required to spin is also reduced. Our orbital speed around the sun is about 67,000 mph, according to Cornell. We are all moving even when we are standing still.

The basic principles of photography are summed up in the exposure triangle. This determines the correct exposure of the image by the relation of the amount of light, to the sensitivity, to the time of exposure. This project is using the time as the main variant in the equation.

This project was started with the idea of taking a series of images all with a different techniques and different lighting to achieve movement within each still image.

A lot of the ideas felt cliché so should the idea be scrapped or done, only better? Do it but improve upon it and learn from it.

This was a bit of a fake. The white is sand not sugar. I found the fine sand poured more consistently. It also fell off the strawberry more evenly. The lighting was a basic set up of two soft-box lights at a 45-degree angle.

1/16th f32 400 iso

This image was taken in colour but worked more effectively in black and white. It was quite difficult getting the hands to look well balanced, especially as there is a camera trigger in the right hand.

I tried different shutter speeds with this nodding bird. The best speed to keep both detail and show movement was 2 seconds.

This shot still shows the eyes clearly. Using a slower shutter caused the top to become an arc of colours.

2 sec f22 iso 100

This exposure was for 10 seconds, due to the motion of the second hand it has been captured at each ticking second.

The minute hand also has a slight movement blur at the tip.

The exposure was too fast to capture any movement in the hour hand.

The same image was taken with a 30 second exposure and was printed in black and white to help show the 30 positions of the second hand.

Due to the slower shutter speed, there is more movement in the minute hand although almost nothing in the hour hand.

The camera was set on a sturdy tripod with a zoom lens set to about 35mm. The lens was focused on the tennis ball for about 5 of the 8 second exposure, then it was slowly panned across for the last 3 seconds. This gave a satisfactory appearance of the ball both captured in focus and with a trail of movement.

8 sec f22 iso 100

This was an interesting shot to set up. It was a very simple small light at the top right side to illuminate the rice pouring, and part of the cups. I tried to keep it, so the detail was just on the rice.

The focus was on the tap. The exposure was 1/15th second for the tap and a fill in flash was used to freeze part of the water but the slower shutter allowed a small amount of movement around the edge of the droplets.

1/20 sec f22 iso 100 w/flash

This is a basic lighting set up. The liquid is sparkling water to add the bubbles to the glass. The exposure was 2 seconds to show movement to the poured liquid.

The movement in this static image comes from the spiral of the shell. By focusing on the centre but not having it in the middle of the photograph, the eye travels through the image.

1/1.6 f32 iso 400

A night shot that has been done many times before. This was taken on a bridge, looking down on the road.

Although a simple idea it is difficult to get the timing of the number of cars as their lights will affect the exposure. Too many and the whole image is just a blur of lights, too few and the road has no illumination.

f11 2sec iso 100

Rather than do a panning shot, I set the camera on a tripod and shot the car passing over the railway crossing. I wanted the car to be blurred but still have definition.

This shot was taken on a 1 ½ shutter speed. It could not be any longer as the train was only 2 carriages and shorter would have not caught the whole train and longer would have blurred it too much. There is only one train every two hours, and this was taken at 4pm to get the more subtle lighting. Even so a ND2 had to be added to get the exposure balanced.

1.3 sec f22 iso 100

Using to long an exposure with this shot loses all focus and the image becomes an abstract. Temporal photography needs a level of definition. The glowing sticks work well against the black background. This shot was taken on a 4 second exposure to retain clarity as well as allow movement.

4 sec f11 200 iso

The original concept was to photograph the lava lamp on a 4 second exposure with a plain white background. These turned out technically well but quite boring. I then had the idea of using the computer monitor to play a recording of a thunderstorm behind it.

This gave the whole image a lot more drama. It also added to the idea of capturing movement within the image.

2 Sec f18 iso 100 4 sec f22 100 iso

The plasma ball gives a cross between a random and contained pattern. The randomness comes from the electrical charge, however it is contained within a sphere. Focusing in on the centre gave a point of focus and the further from that point it becomes more active.

1/30 f18 iso 100

Focusing in on a single charge makes an interesting image, it is like an alien touching a planet, or the hand of God. Movement within an image can still come from a small section of an object.

1sec f18 iso 100

The short 4 second life of a match. The original idea was to shoot a match on water to get a reflection, however the water soaked into the matchstick and made it too wet to stay alight. I then decided to focus in on the head and photograph it burning over a few seconds as the flame burns down the stick.

This shot is in the style of Hiroshi Sugimoto. The only illumination in this 30-minute exposure comes from the playing monitor and minor lights like the stereo. All the lighting is from behind. The image is quite flat and was originally taken in colour. Desaturating it helps to make the image clearer and more defined.

30 min f22 iso 100

Making the shopping more fun. Attaching the camera to the handle of a supermarket shopping trolley and shooting at 1 second, makes the trolley sharp and blurs the background.

Focusing in on a small area of a stream can show faster movement of water without having to lower the shutter speed to much. By keeping the speed slightly higher it keeps some shape to the water. It shows the direction of the flow, the splash pattern and some droplets.

The Elan Valley in Wales, taken on a very overcast day. The shutter was slowed down to 1 second to make the water blur. The focus point was the tower, but the moving water causes the eye to drift across the photograph.

This is a photograph taken on a mobile phone during a university trip. Like the previous image it has a tale of the passage of time. The footprints all going in different directions, humans and dogs enjoying a day on the sand.

Unlike the wall this will all be lost when the tide comes in and washes it all away. The canvas will be blank for the next set of tales.

This very simple image was taken on a mobile phone as I walked past a wall, I have passed a hundred times before. It shows the passage of time by the change of style of the brickwork. At some time in the building’s history a window has been removed. The bricks on the left are less weathered and of a later style. The building has a story of change and modification.

Ironically, this photograph was taken two weeks later, and the wall had changed again. The lintel had been repainted, adding more to the story of the wall.

This project was completed for ARD626 at Glyndwr University.

Negotiated Studies. All images are copyrighted to Simon Good Photography. 15 Jan 2022.