Take Creative Landscape Shots Using Intentional Camera Movement

If you are looking to take some creative and unique pictures, then trying out intentional camera movement photography is highly recommended.

Now, many photographers rely on ensuring your camera is not moving during exposure for sharp images. But the question is, is keeping your camera still always a good idea?

Instead, why cannot we throw caution to the wind, camera can be moved while the shutter is open, and explore variety of creative opportunities this brings to you as a photographer?

In this blog, we will tell you how to do that exactly!

What is intentional camera movement and why should you consider it?

Intentional camera movement or ICM is a technique of taking picture from the camera where you move it as the photo is taken.

To be specific, intentional camera movement can be used to capture creative and unique landscape shots. This technique can be liberating exceptionally, and by minimizing the number of errors occur in a landscape, it allows you to concentrate on form, line, and color in your images.

With Intentional camera movement, a scene that you may consider just ordinary too cluttered now will come to life It is done by letting you blend shapes and colors for an interesting abstract shot.

If you are up to make your next photographic project stunning and inspiring then you want to get your creative juices flowing and intentional camera movement is a technique that you should try at least once.

In fact, it is relatively easier to take some stunning shots with ICM technique.

The Best Settings For Intentional Camera Movement Photography

A key factor to get right portraits when using ICM is your shutter speed. Exposure needs to be long enough to capture significant amount of motion blur (With different shutter speeds you will get different effects).

In general, from 1/3s or 1/2s all the way down to multi-second exposures is recommended. But of course, you are always free to experiment yourself with shutter speeds whether faster or slower; the core of a creative technique like ICM is simply playing around.

Because of long shutter speeds, shooting in low-light conditions is ideal for this technique. During the daytime, it can be harder to achieve the required shutter speeds, even at your camera’s lowest ISO setting and your lens’s smallest aperture (i.e., highest f-stop number).

Moving your camera

Once shutter speed is in your control, the next step is to determine the movement of camera after pressing the shutter button.

Go creative; there are no rules for this! You can move the camera horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You can move it fast or slow. Alternatively, you can move the camera 360 degrees to create a spiral effect, or it can be changed to the focal length on a zoom lens during exposure to create a zoom effect.

You can combine even two or more of these movements to create something creative, this can be done with practice. The look and feel of your final products will be determined by the direction, speed, and smoothness of your chosen movements.

Most importantly tripod option is always there to control the camera movement. This essential  will help you to capture a smoother pictures, which can be useful if you wish to retain a straight horizon line.

What to shoot for the best results

Now till this step you know how to capture beautiful photos with ICM technique, all that is left is to pick ICM subjects now.

A good place to begin this is by finding locations that offer striking colors, patterns, and lines

For example, Forests are a favorite ICM subject – Clean, parallel lines by the trees, as well as the amazing bright colors of nature (gives by flowers in the spring and fallen leaves in autumn), lend themselves to a vertical camera movement shot. The movement can be from the bottom up or from the top down, and it can be fast or slow; it really just depends on the effect you wish to create and how experimental you want to be.

A few intentional camera movement tips

Intentional camera movement is a highly subjective art technique, and what works for you will not work for others.

Also, keep in mind basic principles of photography, such as  composition and exposure – these are still very important!

Also, while the ICM technique will give you a very abstract result, you may find it helpful to have at least one element of the scene sharp or recognizable in the final image

Finally, there is an element of trial and error when starting out with intentional camera movement. You’ll quickly find out what works for you and what doesn’t; this will help you develop your own style.

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