Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Spinning stars


Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise

Members of the Stars drill team practice at West Brook High School in Beaumont on Wednesday, March 7, 2007. Many team members and their parents will travel to New York City during spring break for dance lessons, Broadway shows and sightseeing.

6 comments:

Bryon Houlgrave said...

I like the motion blur. My paper's editor doesn't care for motion blur. It's a personal taste thing.

Have you heard mixed reactions on the technique?

I still take a lot of images with motion blur anyway, because I like the story conveyed in the movement.

Mark M. Hancock said...

I'll try almost every tool in the bag if I have time. Then, I go with the best image for the story and for aesthetics.

For this assignment, I also have sharp images of the dancers in mid air. The blur looked best.

Even a tilt, which I dislike, can work if used in moderation. If it becomes a crutch, something's wrong.

Bryon Houlgrave said...

I dislike the tilt too. I'm all about working the angles and finding a unique way to make an image, but I try very hard to avoid tilting. Most people wouldn't look at the objects with their heads tilted like a wondering puppy, so why make an image that way?

Are we shooting for puppies?

Mark M. Hancock said...

My family raised puppies. Puppies use a lot of newspaper. Yes, I suppose we are shooting for puppies. :-)

I shot a tilt today that wouldn't work any other way. It took the tilt to make it appear "normal."

Michael said...

Nice image. Love the motion blur. It conveys so much more energy, I think, then it they were tack sharp in some pose.

I'm not as sensitive to tilt. I didn't even notice it in this case until you pointed it out. I try to avoid tilt if I think it hurts the image. The best photo, however, is my priority, not whether my horizon is exactly level.

Mark M. Hancock said...

Nah. The lines are wide-angle distortion. I'm talking about tiltis gratis tiltis with a 50mm or greater lens. It's a lazy gimmick most of the time.

The rule I live by is "at one line should be horizontal or vertical." If absolutely nothing is aligned, there should be a darn good reason.