ICM (intentional camera movement) photography
Has anyone else tried icm (intentional camera movement) photography?
I've become obsessed with abstract and expressionist photography and I've been playing around with it because it seemed like a great way to get new enjoyment without leaving my property. (I haven't been feeling up for adventure and it's 110F outside!)
The basic technique is: long shutter exposure and (intentionally) moving your camera during.
You can pan, shake, twist, zoom, bounce, and walk forward/back.
You can get streaks, waves, jitters, all kinds of interesting results.
Some people do multiple exposures, either in-camera or layered in Photoshop.
There's one interesting technique where you move all around a subject and take photos from every angle and then layer them, called the Pep Ventosa effect.
Some people add texture layers to enhance the "painterly" effect.
It's a LOT of fun and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for something different!
Here are some of my "artsier" attempts, 1-2 exposures and a texture layer or two:
I do think I need to source better texture layers. Not sure if my best bet is to buy some cheap paint and linen paper and shoot my own (probably) or find better stock photos.
Today I posted some experiments on my blog with a purer, more controlled approach, using my body as a tripod, to compare the movements:
I thought I'd post in here because I'd love to share about the technique itself, rather than simply share my photos.
Nothing would make me happier than if some of you folks decided to try it out and showed me what you came up with! I'm still a newb so still learning and there's surprisingly little info out there about doing icm, in terms of movements and techniques, even less for creative editing of it.
I've yet to try this, I've seen a wildlife photographer named Steve Mattheis, try it out with bird photography with panning. His shots came out really cool, but alot less movement that you used. I thought about trying it with plane spotting.
Really digging shot #4, I love the beautiful color pallettes you get with the SW sunsets!
Whoa! This is really cool. I love the results! Going to test it out soon for sure
Agreed with the painting feel, thanks for sharing!
Quote from SpruceBruce on July 10, 2022, 5:27 amI've yet to try this, I've seen a wildlife photographer named Steve Mattheis, try it out with bird photography with panning. His shots came out really cool, but alot less movement that you used. I thought about trying it with plane spotting.
Ooh. That's a great idea, to take the old focus panning photographer's trick to an extreme. I think the main thing you'd want to do is use a longer shutter than you would normally for e.g. a motorcyclist.
Looking forward to your test shots!
Really digging shot #4, I love the beautiful color pallettes you get with the SW sunsets!
Thank you! Beautiful sunsets are one of the top perks of living here. They're not every night, but most!
Okay, I'll take your challenge to try this as well next time I go out. I did it a really long time ago but haven't played with it since. I liked the results so much I printed in on canvas. I even sold a few copies. If someone bought mine, yours are definitely sellable lol. Just an idea...
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Quote from ahoyhere on July 9, 2022, 11:07 pmHas anyone else tried icm (intentional camera movement) photography?
I've become obsessed with abstract and expressionist photography and I've been playing around with it because it seemed like a great way to get new enjoyment without leaving my property. (I haven't been feeling up for adventure and it's 110F outside!)
The basic technique is: long shutter exposure and (intentionally) moving your camera during.
You can pan, shake, twist, zoom, bounce, and walk forward/back.
You can get streaks, waves, jitters, all kinds of interesting results.
Some people do multiple exposures, either in-camera or layered in Photoshop.
There's one interesting technique where you move all around a subject and take photos from every angle and then layer them, called the Pep Ventosa effect.
Some people add texture layers to enhance the "painterly" effect.
It's a LOT of fun and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for something different!
Here are some of my "artsier" attempts, 1-2 exposures and a texture layer or two:
I do think I need to source better texture layers. Not sure if my best bet is to buy some cheap paint and linen paper and shoot my own (probably) or find better stock photos.
Today I posted some experiments on my blog with a purer, more controlled approach, using my body as a tripod, to compare the movements:
I thought I'd post in here because I'd love to share about the technique itself, rather than simply share my photos.
Nothing would make me happier than if some of you folks decided to try it out and showed me what you came up with! I'm still a newb so still learning and there's surprisingly little info out there about doing icm, in terms of movements and techniques, even less for creative editing of it.
Super cool! I need to try this. I kind of have in the past, a bit. I would zoom in or out while taking a photo. That's fun to do with a lot of lights, like a Christmas tree. But nothing as cool as your photos...I need to experiment with that ASAP!
Here's what I've done before:
IMGP9784 by JBP_Mobusaki, on Flickr
@jbp don't be making me homesick with Guinness pictures :0
I enjoy a good ICM shot too, the below was taken with a GR III using a fluid head tripod. The subject was a night time cityscape. Took a few tries experimenting with exposure etc, I must try this on other scenes some time
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Quote from kcphotogeek on July 13, 2022, 3:44 pm@jbp don't be making me homesick with Guinness pictures :0
I enjoy a good ICM shot too, the below was taken with a GR III using a fluid head tripod. The subject was a night time cityscape. Took a few tries experimenting with exposure etc, I must try this on other scenes some time
Very cool! Like light painting, except the lights didn't move, the camera did.
I took a stab at it this morning. Was having trouble coming up with a good idea so resorted to trying what I did years ago - tall trees pan up or down 😛
Next time I'm bringing an ND so I can try more complicated movements.
Quote from kcphotogeek on July 13, 2022, 3:44 pm@jbp don't be making me homesick with Guinness pictures :0
I enjoy a good ICM shot too, the below was taken with a GR III using a fluid head tripod. The subject was a night time cityscape. Took a few tries experimenting with exposure etc, I must try this on other scenes some time
Wow, this is really cool and frankly breaking my brain 🤯 try as I might, I can't quite imagine the orientation of the camera or motion to achieve this shot.
My best guess is camera mounted pointup up and then pan the tripod head?
Tried this technique out with my iPhone using the "Long exposure" processing on a live photo, had a nice sky this evening.
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