Motion blur bear
by Mark ~ October 18th, 2009. Filed under: abstracts, art, creativity, nature photography, wildlife.
Motion blur bear
Contrary to my previous posts on high ISOs to get my shutter speed up, for the effect I wanted on this image – I wanted the shutter speed to be pretty slow. In this case, about 1/3 of a second. To get the shutter speed slower, I went to ISO 160, and cranked the aperture all the way up to f25. Then, while panning with the bear, I was also turning the zoom on my 200-400 f4 lens.
It turned out to be a bit of an exercise in coordination – panning and zooming at the same time, all while trying to compose and wait for the bear to be in the right spot. It takes some practice and a lot of experimentation to find the right balance between shutter speed, blurriness and sharpness. As with any attempts with zoom or panning blurs, you usually end up with more in the trash than keepers. I thought this one had enough definition of the bear, good leg positions, and no #&$^$*%(#! seagulls flying in front of the bear. 
October 18th, 2009 at
Mark,
I’m new to the blog but am really enjoying the bear images and love this one. Very different than a typical bear shot and its great. I know how much experimentation this can take and I say this one is pretty darn perfect!
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Mark Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at
Welcome Drew. Thank you for your comments.
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October 18th, 2009 at
Mark… love how creative this is. The motion definitely gets conveyed in your creative choices, and one cannot help but imagine the power of this animal as it covers the ground. Nice work as always!
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Mark Reply:
October 19th, 2009 at
Thanks a lot David. Hopefully the motion looks intentional and not just shaky hands!
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October 18th, 2009 at
[...] View original here: Graf Nature Photography | Notes from the woods » Motion blur bear [...]
October 18th, 2009 at
… but I like the seaguls. LOL
This is well done. You’ve thought it through and then executed it. I probably would have trouble with the coordination stuff also. Practice does make us better.
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October 18th, 2009 at
The panning is pretty fun. Looks like the bear is dancing. Now lets see one with the seagulls
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October 19th, 2009 at
You had lots of variable to juggle, some self-imposed and some external, for this shot–you pulled it off well. There’s a definite sense of motion and energy, and the bear is still well enough defined. Very creative!
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October 19th, 2009 at
Thank you Monte, Amber, Earl.
Don’t worry – I have plenty of ones with seagulls that you will never see.
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October 19th, 2009 at
I can’t imagine what you might wanted to have accomplished with this that you didn’t achieve. Capturing the sense of the bear’s speed and power (that leg extension) with just the right amount of sharpness in the animal’s body balanced against the shaprness of the splashing water and the subtle detais in the background—all of it comes together splendidly. This certainly makes one think more seriously about those claws. Bravo.
Panning is something I have never mastered and this motivates me to start practicing. It’s a heck of model to work toward.
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October 19th, 2009 at
Nicely done! I really like these more interpretive styles of images to convey a sense of the power of the scene.
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October 19th, 2009 at
*LOL @ the seagull bit!* I can only imagine the practice that goes into getting a shot like this. You are the master.
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October 19th, 2009 at
Lana, thanks but please.. The only thing I mastered is not completely messing up every single attempt on this type of stuff. I don’t even have a fu-manchu.
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October 20th, 2009 at
Hey Mark,
I love it – I tried a few of these, and gave up in frustration .. bears are just hard to do motion blurs with .. their gait is much of a wobble that they end up looking weird, most of the time .. leg position is key, and you got a great shot here. I think the zoom really helped too, and the slower s/s .. I went down to around 1/20 or so .. but I think even slower works better with bears.
Very cool.
Cheers
Carl
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Mark Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at
I hear ya Carl. It was a long wait to finally get some that were moving fast enough to make this work. I had one chase scene also where the bears were running full tilt and got a keeper out of that.
I also got some strange effects on one where it looks like one of the bears legs is beaming out of the scene like Star Trek.
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October 20th, 2009 at
I am digging this Mark. Reminds me of the National Geo style. I like the colors here also.
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Mark Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at
NatGeo – are you reading this? This image is for license!!
Thanks Richard.
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October 28th, 2009 at
Great effect. I’ve tried something similar in the past and failed miserably. I like how this turned out a great deal. Good job on getting a frame with out a seagull. That bit of your post made me laugh out loud. Nice job.
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November 1st, 2009 at
What a wonderful and creative shot Mark, your work is outstanding !!
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November 22nd, 2009 at
[...] been inspired by Mark Graf’s recent trip to Alaska, I have been considering signing up for a grizzly bear photo tour. I’ve only seen one black [...]