russjc001 Loc: South Carolina

You adjust the long exposure shutter speed to reflect a more natural appearance. Otherwise you get into a more “artistic” image that many folks also like. Just not everybody's cup of tea.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

I wonder if all those that don't like blurred water because it's unreal and not natural also dislike blurred backgrounds because they're unnatural and fake?

Just asking for a friend

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Personally, I find photos with areas - normally in the background - wildly out of focus, look “unreal” to me. I personally prefer a photo with most areas in focus, or nearly so.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I take your point, and I get the artistic license concept as a reason for milky water. Regarding the blurred background, the object is subject isolation - a different concept (which I am very much in favor of). Many years ago at a seminar put on by our local newspaper, 5 of their photographers spent an hour or so each on their specialty - sports, events/weddings, food, portraits and landscapes/scenes. My two take aways were that every one has a 70-200 f2.8 is one of their main lenses, and 3 of the 5 emphasized that you “need to learn to shoot wide open” for subject isolation. I understand this is a journalist’s perspective (pun intended), but I thought it was useful advice and I remember it every time I see an amateur sports photograph where the people sitting on the bleachers are visually confusing when the object should be the athlete.

End of rant

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

My perspective is that you can blur the background so much that you lose the spectators - thereby losing the reason for the competition.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I understand your position, but unless the spectator’s reaction is the purpose of the image, I feel they just distract from the subject of the competition. We can agree to respectfully disagree - it would be a boring world if we all had the same tastes.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

The spectators are a part of the event.
Without them it would be an event like we had during Covid.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Apparently sportscasters, journalists and many sports photographers disagree. Watch any automobile race or collegiate or professional sport, and 95% of the camera time is on the participants, not the spectators, who are shown only when they’re in the background of the action or a person of interest is in the audience. As a matter of fact, one of my peeves of college basketball is they almost never show the fetching cheerleaders.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I first became strongly aware of this possibility when MSNBC-online posted some photos when they clearly showed the action with some spectators clearly visible in the background.

This is my ‘rant’. You may totally disagree.

User ID

Welllllll .... my friend would like to tell your friend that its NOT a question of reality or lack of reality. Its a matter of being sick and tired of the mindless over use of a long worn out tiresome cliched special effect.

My friend also wishes to express to your friend that the occasional UHH earnest discussions of $250 10-stop ND filters always gets my friend ROTFLHFAO.

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