When someone mentions motion blur, most of the time, we think of speed. In part this is true since the whole intent of motion blur in photography is to capture time which can be measured in seconds, minutes, and even hours. Motion blur is directly proportional to the amount of time the shutter is left open, the amount of available light, and the ISO setting of the camera. If you leave your shutter open for a certain amount of time, you’re essentially allowing your camera’s sensor to capture and see the movement of your subject. In essence, the real trick to motion blur is how long can you keep your shutter open (shutter speed). A fast shutter speed (1/2000 of a second) might not be able to allow you to capture a sense of movement. However, lower the speed to about 1/15 of a second, and you’re in business!
Use a tripod: Securing your camera is probably one of the most important things to remember when shooting motion blur. To show the sense of motion, one of the elements in the photograph should be “still”. Holding the camera steady for even a 1/30 second shutter delay is too long for me. With my heavy dSLR camera, breathing, and posture, it’s not hard to imagine that I can’t keep the camera steady for long periods of time. The image above was captured while on a trip to Seattle. F9, 2 seconds, ISO 100, Manual Exposure Mode, 0E Compensation and a Pattern Metering Mode.
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