One of the Things...

[Arthur Morris]

that I love about making blurs is that you can create something pleasing even when conditions are, according to traditional photography thinking, dismal at best. Denise and I parked the car to switch drivers and take a peek at a nearby waterfall. And then as we both like to do, we began chatting with a few folks. With nothing better to do, I grabbed some gear and began making blurs. I was even giving lessons to some guy with a 50D and an old IS zoom telephoto lens.

For this one I used the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8IS L lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/8 sec. at f/4. (The bright sun had slipped behind the clouds for a few minutes; even so, the sky is totally blown but who cares?)

BTW, somewhere in Yellowstone National Park.

This is a hand held vertical pan blur. This and zillions of other pleasing blur techniques are described in the Blur Guide.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Gary Hamilton]

Very inspirational--making art out of "nothing." We have great fall foliage here in CT right now but the wind is blowing like crazy. I think I'll head out and try some blurs instead of wishing for better conditions.

[Arthur Morris]

Very inspirational--making art out of "nothing." We have great fall foliage here in CT right now but the wind is blowing like crazy. I think I'll head out and try some blurs instead of wishing for better conditions.

You are getting on the right page. Denise prays for wind in fall :)

BTW, thanks for your more than kind words. It looks as if they have some big bears in Connecticut!

[Indranil Sircar]

Hi Artie, this is beautiful. What I like most about it is the white streaks bleeding into the fg. Love the layers of colors. Also, I am enjoying the blur guide. The images are stunning. I wish it was available as a book like your Art of Bird Photography :(

[Arthur Morris]

Thasks a ton for your kind words Indranil and a belated congrats on your Moderatorship :0 Thanks for pitching in here to help out.

[Kerry Perkins]

Very nice sir. I like the diagonal cut of the sky by the trees and of course the blur is excellent. The bands of color and texture are lovely. Sweet!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Arthur,

Nice vertical pan blur. Looks like just the right amount of panning. I like the layers of color also and think that the white sky helps to soften the hues a little.

[denise ippolito]

I like the "transplanted" look to the trees. Nice layers and the amount of blur is great. I do wish the trees in the LLC weren't there but hey we didn't have time to dig them up and move them:p

[Arthur Morris]

Go figure. The tree in the llc is my favorite part of the image as for me, it anchors the image. :)

[denise ippolito]

I would have liked it too if it were off the edge just a tiny bit more.:)

[Arthur Morris]

Yup. I was wishing that I had framed it more left. Actually I did but not enough and there was an ugly trunk there, thus the less than ideal ending to the left side of the frame :)

[Judy Howle]

I like the colors and the white trunks disappearing into the foreground. It is a pleasing blur!

[Patrick Sparkman]

Another great image Mr. Blurs as Art. :)

I really like the amount of vertical blur. It accentuates the trunks of the trees. I would have increased saturation a little, and/or increased the white balance temp. But you know I like to "juice" my images.

[Paul Lagasi]

I like the amount of blur, vertical lines and color...the band of golden brown really helps at the bottom....TFS

[Gary Hamilton]

You are getting on the right page. Denise prays for wind in fall :)

BTW, thanks for your more than kind words. It looks as if they have some big bears in Connecticut!

Yes, we grow our grizzlies big here in CT--lol. I got that shot about 13 months ago in Yellowstone during an extended warm spell that made it extremely difficult to find decent wildlife, especially bears. At one point, about 8 pros had their 500mm and 600mm lenses trained on a roadside pica, creating the park's first ever "pica jam." I estimated well over $100,000 worth of gear devoted to pica papparazzi photos! My avitar shot was taken on my very last morning at the park. Until then, it was mostly river otters, elk, and some macro work. It seems that you had a shortage of wildlife this year too, according to your posts. That didn't stop you from making the best out of the hand you were dealt, though. I made some foliage zoom blurs yesterday which I will post soon. Thanks for the motivation.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Artie, I really like the vertical blur and the colors of the ground in the foreground.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Gary for the pica papparazzi story. And thanks all for your kind words. To give you an idea of how far I pushed this exposure to the right, I am posting a JPEG that represents the RAW. This was the first image where I was able to push the BLACK slider in ACR to 100 without showing any underexposed pixels! Notice that I did need to Quick Mask in some of the foreground.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for your kind words.