Blur and Camera Controls

Definition & Theory

Aperture - The aperture adjusts the size of the opening through which light passes to the image sensor.

Shutter Speed - Shutter speed means timing and duration of opening and closing of the shutter curtain at the back of the camera. A fast shutter speed will freeze action while slower shutter speed creates a blurring effect. Measured in fractions of a second.

ISO - Measures the sensitivity of the lens sensor to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the lens is to light.

William Klein

This shot from Klein is of two children, one of these children aggressively pointing a gun towards the camera, the other child appearing calm. The focal point on the camera is set to the children, leaving the gun in blur but it is still clear to see what the child is grasping. The child holding the gun appears distressed and defensive, as if he feels threatened by the camera and is protecting himself. The other child appears calm but you can see he is attempting to look at the other boy and has his hand on him. This could be him trying to calm down the other boy and tell him there is nothing to feel threatened by. Both boys are in tracksuits and appear rather dirty on their faces; this suggests these boys have been raised in poor conditions and aren't wealthy in any sense. From this we can infer that the boys' poor upbringing has lead them to behaviour poorly and be in a potential gang of some sorts, where they can now have guns and defend themselves. This sort of defence on such a young child suggests vulnerability, the emphasis of aggression on the boy with a gun suggests he is over compensating and truly feels threatened or he feels the need to prove he is a man. The effect of blur on the gun allows the viewer to focus on the boy and see his vulnerability clearer, it tells the viewer that they shouldn't focus on the gun and more the problem at heart.

This shot from Klein is of a woman in a crowd of people blurred and looking in a certain direction. The face of the woman appears to be serious and focused, as if she is looking for someone. She is looking past the camera suggesting that the camera was in her way, and so she moved to the side, suggested by the motion blur, to get a better look behind the camera. Further support that she is looking for someone is by the look in her eyes, though it us blurred, you can sense a slight panic within her, as if she has lost someone, maybe her child and is desperate to find them. The crowd of people behind the woman suggests that they are in a busy area, maybe a shopping centre in the street, or a parade, this creates a sense of sound and commotion. 

Personal Photos
These are my personal creations of blur photos. I used a tripod to capture myself around my house and used self-timer to quickly get into place.

For the four photos above the camera settings were aperture F22 and shutter speed 6 seconds, this was to make sure the camera captured for enough time to capture me moving up the stairs; the aperture was so low because the shutter speed was at such a long time, so it made sure the camera did not pick up too much light while capturing. The photos I feel could present people living in a hurry, constantly having to move up and down to get stuff down, and the fact that they are blurred in the photo suggests they are in a rush.

This photo's settings were aperture F22, and shutter speed at 6 seconds.

This photo's settings were aperture F16, and shutter speed 3 seconds. These two photos have different settings because I wanted to see if a shorter shutter speed would make any difference to the appearance of a spinning chair and person. The aperture obviously had to change with the shutter speed or the photo could end up either over or under exposed. It appears as though the 3 second difference did not make much difference except the 3 second shutter speed photo appears to present a less solid figure of me when spinning in the chair, this would be because the camera had less time to capture as much as the 6-second shutter speed did. I feel these photos could symbolise boredom. Since I am sat at my desk in my bedroom, the spinning of the chair is typically a child-like act and this could present that I am bored in my room and am doing child-like things in hopes to entertain myself.

This photo's settings were aperture F14, and shutter speed 4 seconds. I feel this photo could represent student struggle. As it captures that I am sat at my desk on my laptop and it appearing as though I am doing work on there, while also my head is in a blur. The blur could represent mental struggle as I am working.

Progression

I believe for my personal project coming up this technique would not suit my intentions. The technique typically is used for more symbolic and darker aesthetic photos, which mine will not have that aesthetic. However, though I will not be using this technique, I find it to be a very intriguing one that I could potentially use in another project for the future.