Creating a sense of motion

[Wendy Kates]

Our local theater installed an outside exhibit of metal panels that light up in a computer-generated pattern. I photographed the panels with a zoom lens (Canon 17 - 55mm) using a long exposure (3.5 seconds). Then, during the exposure, I zoomed the lens from 17 to 55mm, hoping to create a sense of motion. I've cropped it considerably, to draw the viewer's eye to the horizontal lines that create a sense of perspective. I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions.

[Indranil Sircar]

Excellent zoom-blur, Wendy. Love how you managed to keep the lines straight and the 3D look it. The neon lights makes it stand out... reminds me of a spaceship going to warp Nicely done.

[Dennis Bishop]

I really like what you've done, here. Nice job zooming, and the composition is outstanding. Indranil's mention of 3D made me wonder about using a Curves layer and soft brush to darken the rectangle (not exactly sure what it is -- a building or one of the panels?). That might add to the 3D look. It'd also go well with the black background. Was the pavement wet?

[Wendy Kates]

Thanks, Indranil and Dennis, for your comments. Dennis...the rectangle is part of one of the panels. I'll play around with darkening it. The pavement was wet...the day had been warm and the snow piles in the plaza were melting. I actually was wondering if I should tone down the pavement, since it is a bit shiny.

[Paul Lagasi]

I agee with the above comment, it really is neat how you got all the lines straight...very well done

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendy, nice job with the zoom blur - these are not easy to do well and you've made a really nice one! You have a steady hand to make such a uniform motion effect, good job. I love the points of light on the right, where the image was first exposed before you started the zoom.

[Nancy Bell]

Great job! That reflection on the pavement is a nice touch, as are those sparkles on the right side that seem to lead you into the depths of the image. The off-center composition definitely adds to the interest of this image.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Wendy, I love the vibrant colors and the zoom blur works really well with the image. Nicely done

[Judy Howle]

Excellent zoom effect Wendy. I love the composition and the bright colors. Nicely seen and photographed!

[Wendy Kates]

Thanks, all. I really appreciate your comments. I hadn't spent much time before on the OOTB forum, so I am finding it both fun and inspirational: I'm learning about lots of new post-processing techniques.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Wendy, I hope we'll be seeing lots more of your images in OOTB