Creating abstracts by moving your camera

Abstract with river reeds

When I first started photographing, I ran across a “standard” rule – don’t move your camera.  In fact, the absence of camera movement was so important you needed a sturdy tripod (not even a flimsy one will do).

I like to break rules.

In this image I took a picture of reeds on the banks of the river and moved my camera vertically during the exposure.  Because the reeds were tall and straight, I chose to move my camera “up and down”.  In some images I twisted the camera diagonally toward the end of the exposure to get different angels.  I must have taken 20 images – and like many of them.  The degree and speed in which you move the camera will radically affect your results.

I recently purchased an e-book from Arthur Morris and Denise Ippolito called “A Guide to Pleasing Blurs”.  In the e-book, they outline several different ways to create blurs (up until reading the book, my go-to movement was vertical.  Now I have many more creative options to try.

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