Is the Art of Blur in Photography Losing Its Appeal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andre
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    photo contest
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the theme of "blur" in photography, specifically within the context of a photo contest. Participants explore the aesthetic role of blur, share their submissions, and reflect on the contest's visibility and engagement since its relocation to a subforum.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express concern that the relocation of contests to a subforum has reduced visibility and participation, suggesting that it may have limited engagement to a smaller audience.
  • Several members share their photographs featuring blur, with varying degrees of intentionality behind the blur effect.
  • One participant mentions using a custom filter to achieve motion blur, indicating a technical approach to the theme.
  • There is a discussion about the nature of blur in photography, with some participants sharing their experiences and techniques related to capturing blur.
  • Some participants reminisce about the previous format of the contest, indicating a preference for broader exposure in the main forum.
  • Questions arise regarding the techniques used to achieve specific blur effects, with participants seeking clarification on methods employed by others.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the move to a subforum has negatively impacted the contest's visibility and participation. However, there is no consensus on the overall appeal of blur in photography or the effectiveness of the current contest format.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the subjective nature of aesthetic preferences regarding blur, the varying levels of technical expertise among participants, and the potential impact of forum structure on engagement.

Who May Find This Useful

Photography enthusiasts, particularly those interested in techniques involving blur, as well as members of the forum looking to engage in community contests.

Andre
Messages
4,296
Reaction score
73
PF PHOTO CONTEST blur [/color][/size]

Okay let's give it another shot, except for the nice picture of Monique, there were no further entries on the contest with the subject Free, despite some suggestions. Also nobody inquired why there was no next contest. Have we exhausted the subjects or is there some viability left?

So let's try as subject this week(s): blur. Please submit a picture in which blur plays a aesthetic role, maybe blur a movement, a blurred subject or something like an abstract painting. Use your imagination.


Contest Rules:

1. Any digital photo or digitally-scanned photo relevant to the theme will be accepted within the contest period. In case there's a gray area, or you're not sure if the picture is suitable, check with me first.

2. Please resize your digital photo to no more than 650 x 490 or 490 x 650 pixels. You may also crop your picture if you wish. You are also allowed to adjust the brightness and contrast of your picture but these should not dramatically alter the look of the picture. But other than those, any form of picture editing or modification is not allowed. This is a photo contest, not a picture editing/special effect contest. You may add a watermark or your name/nickname to the photo for identification purposes.

3. Upload your photos to any of the photo servers such as imageshack or photobucket. Then post it the relevant contest thread and link your picture using the img command. PM me if you do not know how.

4. Only ONE picture per member per contest. Once a picture is posted, it cannot be changed other than a total withdrawl by that member from that week's photo contest. Exceptions will be made for modification to comply with the rules, such as resizing.

5. At the end of the contest period, I will open a poll and every PF member can vote for the picture they like best.

6. Note that in case we have a large number of entries, I will do the polling in more than one thread. If that's the case, you can vote in each of the polling threads. The photos will be assigned in the polling threads in the order they were submitted.

7. These pictures must be something that you took, not something taken off someone else's photo albums or taken by someone else. I have no way of checking if you did this, so we'll go by the honor system.

8. You can use a picture only once. Once it is used in a contest, it cannot be reused in another contest.

9. Please post only pictures meant for submission in this thread
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I have a feeling we are victims of our own success - since contests landed in their own subforum, they are way too often seen only by some small subset of GD frequenters. Same happens with voting.

Blurred picture for a good start.

http://www.bpp.com.pl/IMG/marcin_blur.jpg

Edit: sorry all for editing the post, Andre noticed that I have already used this picture earlier. Mea culpa.

Hopefully this one - similar and taken at about the same time - was never used in the contest. For sure I have shown it on the forum in one of my vacations threads.

IMG_6842.jpg
 
Last edited:
Fiat 126p?
 
3097bxl.jpg


An action picture of a merry-go-round at Legoland. (Not entirely intentional, but an interesting effect anyway).
 
what said:
Fiat 126p?

Yes. I was driving one, back in nineties :smile:
 
afterburn.jpg


Night launch of an F4 off of the deck of the USS John F Kennedy, circa 1972
 
Borek said:
Yes. I was driving one, back in nineties :smile:

I was riding in one too, they are quite comfy.
 
Borek said:
I have a feeling we are victims of our own success - since contests landed in their own subforum, they are way too often seen only by some small subset of GD frequenters. Same happens with voting.

Yes, this. Since it has been moved to its own forum, pretty much the same people submit and (likely) vote.

That said, a photo with 'blur' shall be submitted shortly :)
 
[PLAIN]http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2452/res03541.jpg

Taking a photo of my friend taking a photo... and then my friend moved.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #10
I agree with everyone here. This contest has much wider exposure in the main forum. People who wouldn't necessarily go looking for it in a specific place would likely look and join in when it was simply before them. And I think it appealed to a lot of people.

And, also, just because no one said anything about another contest not following the last, doesn't mean that no one was looking and no one was wondering. I certainly was. I didn't have an entry for the last contest, search through my photos as I may, and I assumed that Andre was just busy. But I was looking and wondering.
 
  • #12
marzena_blur.jpg
 
  • #13
Indeed. I liked it better when there was more exposure in GD.

Andre, thanks for keeping this going even though the voting has been less since the move.
 
  • #14
Couldn't catch it still.

http://img576.imageshack.us/i/butterflyres.jpg/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #15
Fruitfly:

Fruitfly.jpg
 
  • #16
4667681551_e7783ff838.jpg
 
  • #17
Blur is good. I like blur. I got a piece of glass from a welding mask and got it cut down to fit a filter mount so that I could do some really long exposures during the day to get some serious motion blur on the sea and the clouds.

blur.jpg


It may not be as nice as the £80-100 filters you can buy but for the money it's truly excellent.
 
  • #18
I guess I go with the zoom blur

mbsqpf.jpg


I intend to wrap up the thread when back home tomorrow evening, maybe around 8pm UTC
 
  • #19
Hi Andre, did you get the zoom blur effect by manually zooming in/out or the camera do it for you without you touching it?
 
  • #20
chingkui said:
Hi Andre, did you get the zoom blur effect by manually zooming in/out or the camera do it for you without you touching it?

No manual zoom. I put the camera on tripod, selected smallest aperture to get some exposure time and I turned the zoom while taking the pic.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
3K