Not sure if this belongs here...

[Lisa]

but here goes. Please feel free to move this to the proper place if it doesn't belong in this forum.

I would like to know how to take a photo of my daughter riding her bike, but I want to make it look like the background is blurred...in other words, I want to make it look like she's traveling at a high rate of speed like cars at a racetrack. I'd post my tries, but they are truly bad. Do I need a long shutter speed? I was shooting at f4 and keeping the focus on her, but it wasn't working.

[Kevin]

Hi Lisa,
I'd think you would need to use a panning technique to get the desired result. I'd imagine that a slower shutter speed and probably wide open would blur out the background and provide a sense of motion. Panning takes some practise but I'd focus on her as she's coming toward you with a steady sweeping motion trying to keep her on the same focus recticle. Then when she gets in front of you, continue panning as she passes by. I'm thinking you'd be off to the side of a sidewalk.

[Jonathan]

I would suggest panning as well per kevin's post. The key is to keep panning after the shot. You can even try something at say 1/90 or less depending on your daughters speed. One thing that helps is just going to a busy intersection and trying to pan the cars that come through. Take a couple shots, look at the histogram(if you can inlarge and see what is sharp and if the background is blurry) continue ad nauseum until it sinks in:) ahh digital;)

keeping with the lighting section however you can also use rear sync flash but i am not as skilled in this area...err the other area either:)

[Lisa]

Thanks, Kevin! I will certainly try that. It's not easy at all to achieve this. I had one or two that had the blur effect, but it looked more like camera shake than movement.'

[Lisa]

Hey Jonathan, thanks much....the busy intersection idea is a good one, although I don't know if the intended subjects would take too well to that:rolleyes: I'm going to give this a shot again in a day or two. I've got this new 12-24DX that I LOVE and it allows me to get fairly close so I can practice in the safety of my driveway:D

[Keith]

PHOTOSHOP :D I have a specific article to walk you through step by step in how to achieve this very effect.... Low and behold I just read it, LOL. For the PS queen , this should be a very easy exercise......do you happen to have a fax?

[Ron D]

Sounds like Kevin has what you need, but the steady panning with medium to slower shutter speed will give background blur.

[Lisa]

Keith: I do have a fax machine....it is not hooked up however:rolleyes: can you scan and save as as jpeg? I will try to do it the RIGHT way;) first, then if I have to, I'll go to step #2 and use your article. I don't have a lot of patience, so you may be sending the article this way.

Ron: I will post the results on Wednesday....supposed to be nice here, I'll give it a shot then.

[Jonathan]

PHOTOSHOP :D I have a specific article to walk you through step by step in how to achieve this very effect.... Low and behold I just read it, LOL. For the PS queen , this should be a very easy exercise......do you happen to have a fax?

now what happened to the "get it in the camera guy" :D :p

[Lisa]

I think he's trying to help me out here.....I can do PS WAY better than I can take a picture;)

[Ann]

Well you can try my method, My son wanted one of him jumping over the hill with his dirtbike, I couldn't do it, so Keith came to visit and he got took some good ones my son liked! LOL LOL

[Keith]

LOL.... and I do the odd hummers too, even osh kosh ones............dont do dishes or windows :rolleyes: :D Well you can try my method, My son wanted one of him jumping over the hill with his dirtbike, I couldn't do it, so Keith came to visit and he got took some good ones my son liked! LOL LOL

[Keith]

Hey there buster :p , I said I read the identical article, didnt say I did that...........you know my feelings there, and secondly everyone knows my poor PS. I hate PP , just ask Kevin. :rolleyes: LOL!!!

now what happened to the "get it in the camera guy" :D :p

[Lisa]

I shoot bugs because they don't move so when I get something that does move, I'm rather lost. Will try to do it the RIGHT way first. If it fails, then I'll call Keith and ask him to come out here and bring Ann along. We can sip Mike's Hard Lemonade while he shoots the bike shots.cool;

[gluwater]

Because of the slow speed of a moving bike getting the background to blur might be hard to get. I've gone to the drag strip a couple times and panning there is easy because of the high speed of the cars. But to blur the background of a moving bicycle you will probably need 1/30th or less. At that speed it will be hard to keep your daughter in sharp focus. Like Jonathan said, you may want to try rear curtain flash. If you are not familiar with rear curtain flash, what it does is triggers the flash at the end of the exposure so you will have a blur and then freeze the action at the end. Hope that helps.

[David Cramer]

You've gotten some good advice here... but as Nick stated, it's gonna be difficult to get what you want without rear curtain flash. Will your lens open up more than f/4? Shoot as wide open as possible and increase the distance between her and the background as much as you can. You'll get a better oof background, but it won't necessarily give the illusion of a speed blur. PS to the rescue.

[Lisa]

Hi all:

I forgot to post my results using suggestions found here. While it may not be perfect, I was happy with the results as compared to my initial ones. I think I am beginning to understand. The distance between me and the subject was not far, maybe 10-15 feet or so, but I had space limitations. Also, she was clowning around riding her old bike, so it looks a tad goofy.:rolleyes:

I used the 12-24mm for this one.

Thank you all!

http://www.pbase.com/image/69160313.jpg

[cspringer]

In Photoshop...I would take a picture of the background and one of her. She could even be acting like she is riding while staying still and balancing on the two wheels.
Extract her and move her on top of the background layer. Run Filter/Blur/Motion Blur on the background.

[Lisa]

Thanks, Chip! Nice to see you around here:cheer: