If what I say resonates with you, it is merely because we are both branches on the same tree.
W.B. Yeats
It’s been a while since I tried “intentional camera movement,” or ICM as it’s known. (You can see a previous experiment here plus find out about the technique.)
But since we’re coming to the end of the abstract photography course I’ve been taking, I thought I would give it another go. It’s a technique that takes a great deal of patience since the ratio of failures to successes is quite high. But it’s definitely worth the effort.
Even though I’m a big fan of non-recognizable abstracts when it comes to water reflections for example, I tend to prefer a slightly recognizable subject when using ICM.
You have to use a slow shutter speed so it’s important to control the light that comes into the camera otherwise the overall effect will be far too washed out. I tried several different combinations before I was happy.
For this image, I used a very low ISO and a small aperture combined with a quarter second exposure. I thought about using a neutral density filter but found that I didn’t really need to. I was pleased that the trees were still outlined and the colours were deep and rich in the example above.
Tell me, do you enjoy making ICM images, and if so, do you have any tips to share?
Sherrygaley.com 
Wonderful quote! And yes, I love doing ICM also. Wondering if its something that photographers love to do, but maybe less non-photographers enjoy to look at?
Really nice! I always like trees and branches in ICM shots. I need to re-read the information from the class to get the right camera settings (ISO and aperture). The color variations is what I love to see.
Nice! I like doing ICM too, but it’s interesting how it’s actually so much harder to get good results than it might look to a casual observer! Like you, I find the reject ratio to be quite high and end up deleting the bulk of my shots. I expect that we’d all be doing a lot less ICM if we were still shooting in film. 🙂
Love ICM’s so much. So much fun with the camera and the unexpected is what is so fun to me. Love what you got here Sherry, I am going to consider taking this class the next time around, seems like one I would really like a lot.
ICM is really fun, isn’t it? I love the way you can take the same subject lots of times and create something totally different. It certainly allows our creativity a new area to explore!
I like the earthy tones and the fresh green in your image.
This is really beautiful, Sherry! I do like doing ICM images, and I also like doing double exposures with them. Much of the time (and with many shots!!), they look pretty good on their own, but you can really have fun with the double exposures in Photoshop or another editor.
Love the way this came out Sherry. Lovely!