Meet Pippa...I have been photographing her since she was a tiny baby and now she's grown up and walking around! How seriously cute is she?! Her Mom brought in the rose, which matched the tutu perfectly and was a perfect addition to the shots. It smelled really dreamy too!

I love it when you can see those two tiny teeth on the bottom! She was such a sweet girl too. Most little kids would have ripped all of those petals out in a flash but she just held her rose and smiled!

There isn't a picture that you could take that would convey the real feeling of that vast sky. You just have to be there, under it, looking up and out. You can see (a little bit) how the light danced around the mountain tops as it peeked in and out from behind the puffy clouds. It really needs to be seen to be understood. I'm already planning our next trip out there!

Here are a few more from the last day of our trip, enjoy! Please post links to your favorite images from the week or you can submit them to the Favorite Shot Friday Flickr pool. Happy weekend!

Whenever I teach shutter speed / motion control in my classes, people ask me why or when would you want your image to be blurry? It makes sense, most of us are trying to take pictures that are in focus and sharp. There are times, though, that motion blur can be amazing in a photograph. This past weekend while in Marfa, Tx. I shot this image of a train going by. A handful of people have asked me how I got the tree and the railroad guard arm in focus but the train is out of focus and streaked.

Motion is controlled by the shutter speed. The trick to having some items in focus (the things that are NOT moving usually) and other objects blurred (the moving objects) is finding a shutter speed that is slower than the moving object but fast enough for the still ones. Say that to yourself a few times until it is clear. Always remember, to FREEZE motion, you need a shutter speed that is at least a little bit faster than the motion that you are photographing. To BLUR motion, you need a shutter speed that is slower than the motion that you are photographing.

In the case of this image, the train was going by really fast. I used a shutter speed of 1/15 of a second. I stood as still as possible because 1/15th is slow. If you were to zoom in on the image you will see that even the parts that are not blurred are not as sharp as they would be if I were shooting a faster shutter speed. If I had used a tripod, then the trees and road would be perfectly sharp. I shot about 5 versions of this shot at different shutter speeds trying to find the one with the most blurring of the train without completely blurring the still objects.

Here are some links that you might enjoy- inspiration online! Enjoy!
Great examples of motion blur photography
Long exposure group on Flickr
Motion group on Flickr
More on Flickr
Phillip Colla gallery

Here is some inspiration on the other end of the spectrum- stopping movement
Lois Greenfield's dance photography

Here is a recent example of frozen motion (also from my Marfa trip). It was raining and the water was pouring off of the roof's edge.

Now it's time for YOU to try it out! Play with your shutter speed priority setting on your DSLR (or shoot in manual if you are comfortable with that). On a Nikon, shutter speed priority is the S on your mode dial and for Canon users, you will use the Av setting. Please share your experiments with us by posting links to your images in the comments section below or adding them to or Monday Lesson Flickr group.

 Some ideas for motion blur experimentation are:

fountains (make the water blur but keep the fountain sharp and in focus)
kids running and jumping
cars going down the road
skirts twirling
flag blowing in the wind
waterfalls

Have fun, experiment and let us see what you end up with! Happy Monday!

PS- don't forget about the upcoming Museum District photowalk and the new DSLR workshops in December and January! The photowalk is a perfect place to practice this sort of thing. We will be doing a little exercise specifically with motion blur. Check out the schedule here!