Things Aren't Always Clear

     In everyday life, clarity is something that's emphasized. This is especially true in photography. Most of the time, photographers will look at a photo that is blurry and immediately toss it out. Usually, this is the right choice, but sometimes blur can make a photograph more artistic. Today I will be exploring and embracing blur in my photography.

     One way to capture motion is by using blur. Using "a slow shutter speed... we get a blurry, sweeping, brushstroke effect and a much more active image" (Peterson 268). To experiment with this idea, I moved my camera in the same direction as my brother while he jumped off of a swing. This made his hands in focus, while everything else is blurry and out of focus.

Since everything except his hands are blurred,
there is a sense of motion in this image.

     Using blur can also be a way to show creative expression (Peterson 268). In the image below, I set my camera to a slow shutter speed of 2.5 seconds to create light trails. This is tells more of a story than taking photos of the lights without moving the camera. 

The arches in this image seem to be drawing you in
closer to the depths of the photograph.

Do you think blur can be artistic? Will you try to use it in your photography? Let me know in the comments!

Blur in everyday life :)

Peterson, Bryan. Bryan Peterson's Understanding Composition Field Guide. New York: Amphoto, 2012. Print.