Last time I used two photos of Nancy to show how structure and colour in my work. This time, I want to talk about the roles motion and emotion play in photography.
What is motion? The trace that runners rushing on the field? Or the skinny arrow fly through an apple? Almost everything is kinetic in the world. As Chemistry teachers always say: “All matter consists of tiny particles that are in constant motion. ” Then, how can we show the motion of the subject or person in a photo? Sometimes, when a subject is moving, we can easily figure out its trace base on our own life experiences. For example, if a bottle of water is hanging in the air, you know it is gonna drop down to the ground in the next second. So, look at this photo now.
My friend Bella was playing tennis. I took this photos while she was throwing the ball in to the air. She looked up to the ball, and raised her tennis racket. Her left arm still kept the position of throwing. This is a regular position of serving a ball. All of these vivid movements rebuild that exciting moment to you. As an audience, you may also feel Bella’s mood in this photo. You can tell from her neutral motions that she was pretty relaxed instead of nervous. Also, the way she looked at the ball shows us she might be considering about how to hit it or when it was gonna fall down. See, a good photo with sufficient motions can bring you many useful information, and the more you receive from the photo, the more realistic the photo would seem to be. However, motion’s function is not only about conveying a lively moment, but also expressing the emotion.
A photo with enough motional details can usually lead the audiences to the emotional stage. Like I have mentioned above, the protagonist’s face and body are able to reveal the mental condition. But how to decorate photos with the dynamic elements? How to make my photos as real as the videos? Here is a little tip: sometimes the blurry objects are exactly what you need.
Tell me how do you feel about this photo? Can you feel if she was sad, happy, excited or sorrowful? Of course! This is a girl who was wearing her new dress before the prom night. She put on the high heels and make up to show her friends. I pressed the shutter when she was expanding the dress. You can see the bottom half of the dress is vague and burry, because the speed of the shutter was slower than the speed of her movements. Nonetheless, the top half of the photo is so clear that you can even count the amount of her hair. In this situation, the photo is successful because it expressed all the necessary elements. The clear part ensured the basic quality and details, and the blurry part increased the motional style. Moreover, while you look at it, the combination of stillness and motion can usually remind you of the dynamic scenes appeared in the real world, such as the high speed cars and flying birds. This kind of connection would establish a three dimensional figure in your brain, and trigger the emotion that hide behind those moments themselves.
If you want to take a static photo as the first one, just turn up the shutter speed; apparently, for the second dynamic photo, all you need to do is choose a super slow shutter speed and hold your camera steadily. I am learning from my everyday practice. Why don’t you pick up your camera and improve your skills with me?
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