Christmas Zooming

This is the intro picture to show on the main page.  Look below for the full image.

If you've looked around my blog much or been here before you may remember a post I did just a couple weeks ago with my very first experimentation of zooming while the shutter was open.  Frankly I was pretty excited about it.  However, I knew then that I could and wanted to do a lot better.  You may want to check that post out by clicking here.  While you're checking it though notice the awesome comment by Tim.  How cool is that, that he would take the time to give me some hints.  They're great hints too.  If you are thinking of trying some of this yourself you may want to copy and print his tips.  Tim has a great blog of 365 pictures in 365 days. Unfortunately for me they came the day after I had gone back to Salt Lake City and tried some more.  However, it turns out that I did exactly what he suggested - he must have sent it to me telepathically - and I'm pretty happy with the results.  Let this be a warning to you, as I said above I'm pretty excited about playing with this technique, so of the nearly 100 photos I took the other night, about one out of 4 or 5 was a practice zoom shot and you will get to see several over the next 19 days.  But along with showing them to you I'll try to tell you how I did what I did and why.

This shot was taken out of a window of a building across the street.  I had to have my friend hold up my jacket to block the window reflections.  I (okay, I'll admit it - accidentally) ended the zoom before the exposure was finished so it remained at the ending focal length for about 1/3 of the exposure.  They say many great discoveries were found by accident - well here was one for me.

One more thing.  If you are a photographer you have probably done like me and saw a shot that somebody did and it amazed you.  It happens to me all the time.  I see so many shots that I think "Wow, I wish I could get a shot like that".  I saw one on Tim's blog just this evening.  Well I finally got one of those shots and I'm going to share it with you on Christmas Eve.  No computer manipulation, just a little bit of planning and a whole lot of luck.  Mark your calendar for Christmas Eve and come and see.

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