The photography zoom effect can be a fun trick to use in your work that gives the impression of movement to still images. The effect itself is fairly simple to get, but requires a certain level of proficiency that can really only come from practice, practice, and even a little more practice. Even so, the techniques are incredibly simple and easy to pick up and, with a few tips, you should be able to wow everyone with your impressionistic art work in no time.
The zoom effect is just that: a zoom effect. When capturing your image, all you have to do is set your camera to a longer exposure and zoom in or out while the shutter is tripped. Since you’re going to physically manipulating your camera, it’s a very good idea to be using it on a tripod. This will cut down on any shake from your hands that can completely ruin the finished product.
Given the fact that you’re going to need a longer exposure for the effect to happen, a low light situation might be the best way to go about it. You’re probably also going to want to use a small aperture in conjunction with the lower light. This will give you the longest time possible between the shutter opening and closing, and therefore the longest time for you to carry out your zoom.
Select Your Focus
The very first thing that you’re going to want to do once you choose your position is set your focus. Setting your focus is a very common necessity in video photography, but not quite as prevalent in still photography. The way you do it is find your position and get your camera up on your tripod.
Once you’re in place, you have to zoom all of the way into the subject and fix your focus, then lock it into place. As soon as the focus is fixed, you cannot move from that spot unless you reset your focus. The benefit that you get from doing it this way is that you image is going to remain in focus, no matter where your zoom is.
Once you’re set with your tripod and settings, the actual act of the photography zoom effect comes into play and the only real way to know what’s going to work best for you and your camera is to experiment. If you’re using a camera with a very wide focal length, then you might find that zooming all of the way in or out may make the image look like a distorted blur. On the flip side, not zooming enough could give you image that just looks shaky or out of focus.
Photography Zoom Effect – Additional Tricks
Once trick that you incorporate into your zooming technique is to pause half way through the motion. If you give the image just a few fractions of a second to linger before moving on, you can increase the focus and intensity of the subject a great deal. This will also help to keep the overall image from becoming too blurry as with too long of a zoom.
Once you see an image that you like in your LCD screen, try going through the entire process again, only with a reversed zoom. Each one could give you a slightly different effect that will become much more noticeable once you get to see your image on your computer monitor.
As you progress with this trick, you will quickly learn that the most difficult part of the process is keeping the camera still while you zoom. You can try to stack the deck in your favor by moving the camera as close to the object as possible.
This will give you more bang for your buck in terms of how much effect you get from the amount of zooming you do. The shakiness in the image from your hands on the camera will also gain just a little more forgiveness by being closer.
Practice is really going to make perfect with this type of effect, but getting your images where you want them is also going to be a lot fun. The skills that you pick up while mastering the Photography Zoom Effect technique will also greatly improve all other aspects of you photography.
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