Creating Movement in Photographs Using Shutter Drag - With Alpha Delta Pi Charleston
How do you turn an event full of dancing in movement into something boring and stale? It’s quite simple. Stick a flash on your camera, point it bare at the subject and freeze them in time. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the expression on your subject is so strong, or a reaction in the background is so expressive that the photograph still conveys emotion. With the right flash equipment, you can completely isolate the subject from the background of a dance floor and truly capture the emotion on someone’s face. Often, though, you manage to strip the motion out of a picture and completely sterilize it.
When I photograph dancing, I always drag the shutter when I can. Dragging the shutter refers to setting a relatively slow shutter speed so that the camera receives enough natural light to expose some of the background (not illuminated by flash). This slow shutter speed also creates blur for the portion of the image exposed by the ambient. If the ambient light is too strong, the technique doesn’t work and will result in too much blur of the background, or even the subject of the photograph. If the ambient light is low enough to allow the technique you end up with a subject that is frozen in time by your camera’s flash (on or off) and a background that communicates motion.
EQUIPMENT: Canon 5D mkiii, Sigma Art 35mm, Canon 600 EX-RT, Magmod Modifiers
SETTINGS: This is pretty easy. I set my iso around 1000 or so (depends on lighting condition), but just enough to allow my flash to fire at less than full power for quicker recharge times. I set the aperture to 3.5 or so to allow a little bit of error in focus. The shutter is then set between 1/15 and 1/30s. Most of the time when I am using this technique I am using my flash on camera with a diffuser. This way I can assure that center framing my subject will consistently freeze their motion. FLASH: I always use my Magmod Magsphere when using on camera flash. It spreads the light, creating an even, more naturally lit subject. If i need reduce flash spill I throw on a Maggrid as well.
If executed correctly, you end up with one of two things: A photo that beautifully communicates the natural motion of the event, or the photographer’s artistically induced motion. Here is what I mean:
The latter technique is shown here. When the ambient light is really low, you can create motion by moving the camera immediately after the shutter button is pressed, creating blur in only the bright lights of the venue, with all focus still retained on the wedding couple.
Now, I’ll demonstrate the typical shutter drag technique with the lovely girls of College of Charleston’s Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. Most importantly, remember to always do things differently. Create feelings in photographs. Feelings trump technical perfection every time.
And now the less exciting, but equally important group shots :D