Fun with motion blur

[sageone]

Shot this for a cover pic for a high school admissions kit I was designing...thoughts, comments, suggestions, as always welcomed.

[Formulated_One]

I like this picture..Great shot..
Capturing the student, and still keeping the "look" of the hustle and bustle of High School..

[Balliolman]

This is very appealing. The main subject emphasises students as individuals and the people behind give an impression of activity and purpose. Well done!

[sageone]

Thanks folks. I'm a huge sports fan and love shooting sports. And being a marketing director for a prep school has it's advantages - not only from a budgetary perspective :) - but also from a content perspective. There are always chances to shoot something creative (because I like doing it) but also knock something off that's work related. Getting paid for doing something I love doing is even better.

I used this shot as the center piece of the admissions kit...needless to say, it went over well.

[jledvina]

Great shot!! What was the shutter speed of the shot? Just curious...:)

Keep up the great work!

- Joe

[sageone]

Great shot!! What was the shutter speed of the shot? Just curious...:)

Keep up the great work!

- Joe

I honestly don't remember...I pulled this from some shots I took earlier in the year. I want to say I was about 1/15 or something slow enough to catch the blur, but not loose the "stillness" of the student in the middle. I had to take about 40 shots to get the one that I liked. I just kept moving the shutting speed lower and lower until I got a balance I liked. Available light helped.

[Kevin]

Great shot. Shows a busy mood.

[Brandy327]

Wow! Great shot!

[hybridwire]

I like the shot, i am just wondering why the one person to the back left with their back to us does not seem to be blurred at all, is there a reason for it?

[sageone]

I like the shot, i am just wondering why the one person to the back left with their back to us does not seem to be blurred at all, is there a reason for it?

He was taking his time walking around. I told all the students to walk past the subject a few times at a brisk pace...this one student wasn't all that interested. Needless to say, we cropped him out of the shot for the admissions kit.

[KaplanMultimedia]

I like the shot, i am just wondering why the one person to the back left with their back to us does not seem to be blurred at all, is there a reason for it?

I agree. IMO, this was the one distracting element in an otherwise very interesting picture. Since you allow image editing, I hope you don't mind my revision.

Here's what I did: I used the lasso tool with a feathered edge and selected just the people in the background. Then I added a horizontal motion-blur in PhotoShop to make everyone but the main subject appear to be moving.

[sageone]

Great stuff Kap...I know enough in CS2 to be dangerous, but not to make my photos better! I'm learning as I go. I know a lot of the short cut stuff, but something this I'm clueless. Thanks for the step by step. I'll give it a shot on the original...see what I can do.