I am continually disappointed at photographers (and painters) who picture propellers as partially frozen without making even the slightest attempt at lowering their shutter speeds or artists who ‘freeze’ propellers. It is not how the human eye sees them and discs look far more dynamic in a photo.
I see it as lazy photography but can’t understand why artists should adopt ‘frozen’ props. I was once told by a well known US photographer that the major American magazines rarely accept frozen propellers and he simply deletes his without even submitting them.
By: Al - 24th March 2010 at 14:19
Al.
One set of props was feathered whilst the other set were not?
Regards,
kev35
Yes, the old trick with the double Mamba engine.
Correct – I didn’t think that one would last too long…
By: GliderSpit - 24th March 2010 at 12:42
Yes, the old trick with the double Mamba engine.
By: kev35 - 24th March 2010 at 12:12
Al.
One set of props was feathered whilst the other set were not?
Regards,
kev35
By: PMN - 24th March 2010 at 11:48
I agree it is lazy – those 1/8000 shutter speeds almost guarantee a sharp image of a flying aircraft, but where is the skill in that?
It’s a little unfair to imply that just because someone doesn’t get prop blur they’re unskilled with a camera. There are plenty of people who’ve learned the technical skill of getting prop blur who absolutely lack any kind of creativity and still produce very dull and boring photos. Conversely there are people who shoot props in the same way as jets who have natural creativity that’s massively greater than many prop blur snobs (a fair word I think) could ever even dream of.
Photography is simply too wide a subject to make judgements on whether someone drops into Tv to shoot props or not. I like prop blur and I try get it when I can, but too many people scream ‘lazy photographer’ just because the props are frozen. As a screener on a large aviation photography site I see far, far more other and more frustrating areas in the whole image-making process where people are lazy.
Paul
By: Al - 24th March 2010 at 10:42
I agree it is lazy – those 1/8000 shutter speeds almost guarantee a sharp image of a flying aircraft, but where is the skill in that? Digital movie cameras also do some very strange and unrealistic things to moving props and rotors.
I can remember when 1/500 on an SLR was an absolute luxury!
But here’s a question for you – how did I manage to take this photo? Hint – there’s no fakery involved…
By: PMN - 24th March 2010 at 10:16
Show us some examples of your perfect prop blur so we can all learn. 😉
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March 24, 2010 at 9:54 am