As we round up our final weeks with the theme of intentional blur, I have been blown away by your images. I think there was some hesitation when we initially announced this theme, but everyone seems to have really embraced this creative technique, and I have loved seeing the creativity of everyone in this group.
The beauty of using creative techniques, like Intentional Blur, is that it can elevate your voice in an image. It all comes together so beautifully when we think about why we are taking an image, what we are trying to communicate, and then using these techniques as the how. I hope that y'all continue to think about these things as you create, and that you continue to share them with us in the group and on IG.
All of you have stepped up to the challenge and created wonderful images all month long. Here are a few of my favorite. Thanks so much for sharing and I can't wait to see what you do with next month's theme, Composition.
Wendi
Gear: Canon 6D 50mm
Settings: ISO 100 1/400s freelensed
The Shot: I decided to practice freelensing while my daughter jumped on the trampoline. The sprinkler was under it so I was hoping for some blurred water fun.
Post Processing: In Lightroom I added my base preset and tweaked a little. I cropped in tighter. Then brought it into Photoshop and applied a tone overlay to add a punch and a LUT to fix the colors. I also used a golden sun overlay at a very low opacity to emphasize the sun’s low in the background a bit.
Gear: Nikon D750, 50mm 1.8
Settings: ISO 100, f1.8, 1/160
The Shot: Saw a pocket of evening light going through a small strip of my front flowerbed, so I ran for my camera. Got up really close and manually focused.
Post Processing: Edited in LR using SMAL01 preset.
Gear: Nikon D500 and Lensbaby Velvet 85
The Settings: f2.8 or f4, 1/320s, ISO 140
The Shot: I shot a lot of these daisies trying to figure out how much blur was too much. I still struggle with the Lensbaby’s manual focus and determining what is good blur vs poor focus.
Post Processing: Nik filters Silver Efex for black and white conversion and then further increased clarity and brightened the petals a bit.
The Gear: Nikon z6, Lensbaby Burnside 35mm
The Settings: ISO 100, f 2.8, 1/800s
The Shot: My daughter was playing with the water hose in the early evening (before golden hour). I exposed for the highlights so I didn't blow out the water and also because I wanted nice contrast in the tonal range of the image. I shot in continuous mode as she swayed the hose above her head and I loved how the water framed her face in this shot.
Post Processing: Editing in LR with Symphony from my Art & Soul BW Preset Collection. Brought into PS to clone out some distracting leaf bokeh and the propane tank that was behind her.
Gear: Nikon D750, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm
The Setting: 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000, manual mode, spot metering, shutter set on continuous high
The Shot: Set my camera on a shelf because I didn't bring my tripod. Took numerous pictures of him running around with the slow shutter speed. Combined about 5 images together to show how busy toddlers can be.
Post Processing: Combined images in Photoshop. Used Florabella actions adjusting to suit my taste.
Gear: Sony A7RIII, 16-35mm Sony Lens
Settings: 16-26mm zoom f/22 1/10 sec ISO 50
The Shot: Twisting my zoom lens from widest to a narrower field of view pressing the shutter button as I did so. It was a bit of a rainy day which gave some nice atmosphere. (As opposed to a blue sky clear day.)
Post Processing: In LR I used a preset and tweaked many of the sliders to my taste, then painstakingly removed a zillion dust spots in PS and increased saturation a little.
Gear: Canon 6dmkii with Lensbaby Sweet 35
The Settings: f4, 1/320, ISO 200
The Shot: My other kids and I hang out at this park once a week while my daughter has footy training and my 8yo spends the whole time on the flying fox. The sun sets just behind it and I wanted to capture her joy and movement in the pretty light
Post Processing: Hello Autumn preset in LR then a bokeh overlay and tweaks in PS
Gear: Camera gear: Sony a7iii with sony 35 mm
The Settings: Camera settings: shutter speed 1/250 f1.8 ISO 2500
The Shot: How did you shoot this: put the slinky on my lens and asked her to hold the other end.
Post Processing: How did you edit this: cropped, adjusted curves/light adjustments/adjusted for orange/reduced saturation/vibrancy up/texture up/clarity up/dehaze up/sharpened.
Gear: Canon 6d mk ii, sigma art 35mm
The Settings: f/4, 1/4000, ISO200
The Shot: I'd gone out to grab some shots of the sunrise the other morning and all the dewy spiderwebs caught my eye so i was just playing around with different angles and settings grabbing a few different shots of them and i liked how this one turned out
Post Processing:in lightroom i applied a preset, straightened and applied a graduated filter just to decrease exposure on the sky a little
Gear: Canon EOSR, Sigma 35mm 1.4 lens
The Settings: ISO 100, f/1.4, SS 1/4000
The Shot: I was in my partners parents garden when i spotted the bees on the purple flowers, ive always wanted to get some half decent photos of bees and this one posed perfectly getting itself covered in pollen!
Post Processing: I hand edited the image by using a radial filter to brighten the bee and his chosen flower, then used gradient filters to darker the bottom and the sides of the image, i used another radial filter at the top to brighten above the flower, also dehazed it and brought the clarity and texture right down too. Also added in some dust/light particles with a scatter brush.
Gear: Fuji XT20 with lensbaby sol45.
Settings: Iso 200, 1/125. F3.5
The Shot: My daughter loves the swings so I stood behind her and asked her just to look over her shoulder. This is often the position she in chatting to me while I help push so the whole thing feels very nostalgic for me.
Post Processing: Edited in LR mobile with Elens Blair black and white preset as a base then I lightened up the over all exposure, applied a light vignette, increased the texture and lightened the shadows on her face.
Gear: D750 nikon, 35mm Sigma Art
The Settings: 35mm f1.4, ISO 100, 1/500 sec
The Shot: Sun is setting just behind the subject, I spot metered for highlight
Post Processing: Added contrast and clarity in Lightroom, also brought up warmth and make a little dehaze adjustment