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Dragging my shutter using a variable neutral density filter
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Sep 20, 2022 20:44:29   #
ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia
 
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swishing effect for my grandsons as they attempt to hit baseballs at bat. Nikon D7100 18-140MM f/3.5-5.6 on a tripod. The shots would be in AM daylight. I would shoot at f/16 and test & try different shutter speeds with varying filter settings. Do you think this will work? Almost like light trails at night but with out of focus movement of the bat as they take a complete swing. Holiday gift to be framed! Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

AB
Virginia


(Download)

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Sep 20, 2022 20:50:25   #
BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten
 
Flash with fresnel lens and rear curtain shutter might be worth a try.

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Sep 20, 2022 21:57:55   #
olddutch Loc: Beloit, Wisconsin
 
To get the Blurred look on propeller’s I slow the shutter speed to less than 1/160 th of a second and adjust Aperture to make good exposure of it. Lol.

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Sep 21, 2022 04:11:08   #
R.G. Loc: Scotland
 
Bear in mind that it won't just be the bat that's moving. Too slow a shutter speed could result in your grandsons being blurred. If you get the timing of the shot and the shutter speed just right you should be able to get some motion blur on the bat but still have the batter reasonably sharp. Unless somebody can tell you from experience of this exact scenario, you'll have to experiment with shutter speed. My guess would be about 1/500 sec. as a starting point.

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Sep 21, 2022 07:16:52   #
Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket
 
IMO Too light to do this. If you use an ND filter, all items will show blurred movement. One solution, would be to take a series of continues photos and merge them into one image in photoshop. That way, all images will be sharp but you will have a cool effect of having the swing, bat and ball at different places during the pitch and swing. If your are using a Nikon D7100, your max frame rate at 6 frames per second might not be fast enough to give you as many photos as you would like, however, might be worth a try. Would like to see if this works for you.

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Sep 21, 2022 09:00:41   #
davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel
 
ABJanes wrote:
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swishing effect for my grandsons as they attempt to hit baseballs at bat. Nikon D7100 18-140MM f/3.5-5.6 on a tripod. The shots would be in AM daylight. I would shoot at f/16 and test & try different shutter speeds with varying filter settings. Do you think this will work? Almost like light trails at night but with out of focus movement of the bat as they take a complete swing. Holiday gift to be framed! Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

AB
Virginia
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swish... (show quote)


Realize that you will wind up with the entire upper body in motion. As a suggestion wait until he is "free swinging from his wrists only. Kids do this frequently and the results won't be as drastic as a full swing but may give you your desired image. Good luck and enjoy!

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Sep 21, 2022 12:33:37   #
fosis Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
 
Bassman has the right idea.
The trick might be to find a way to get enough flash power to create a "frozen" image of the subject, while also capturing the swoosh with the existing natural light. The rear curtain shutter would(?) close immediately after the flash fired(?), leaving the swoosh followed by an image of the end of the subject's swing.
Some wildlife photographers use techniques to narrow down the field covered by their flash units, which incidentally helps them to reach out to greater distances than a broadly spread flash would cover.
Fellow Hogs, feel free to develop this thinking further.

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Sep 21, 2022 12:35:38   #
Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket
 
fosis wrote:
Bassman has the right idea.
The trick might be to find a way to get enough flash power to create a "frozen" image of the subject, while also capturing the swoosh with the existing natural light. The rear curtain shutter would(?) close immediately after the flash fired(?), leaving the swoosh followed by an image of the end of the subject's swing.
Some wildlife photographers use techniques to narrow down the field covered by their flash units, which incidentally helps them to reach out to greater distances than a broadly spread flash would cover.
Fellow Hogs, feel free to develop this thinking further.
Bassman has the right idea. br The trick might be ... (show quote)

Unless very close to the batter, the flash will have to be very powerful and will limit the shutter speed.

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Sep 21, 2022 16:42:10   #
petrochemist Loc: UK
 
Timing will probably be critical, as it's not a continuous movement, but there's no reason it shouldn't work.
I'd suggest trying something like 1/30s, review the shot & then go faster or slower as required. Once you've got the right conditions take a fair number of shots, as there are bound to be unexpected movements beyond just your grandson's.

Second curtain flash would be great but at those sort of ambient light conditions & distances I can't see it being workable.

Robert's suggestion of combining shots in photoshop will probably give the best results, but is far less satisfying to me. It might be worth grabbing an appropriate high speed burst first, so as to have that as a backup.

Good luck, this is just the sort of shooting that really appeals to me :)

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Sep 21, 2022 17:23:01   #
Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida
 
I don't know about D7100 but several of my DSLRs as well as bridge cameras will make video files. I haven't experimented much but notice that there is a "M" setting for video where I can pick shutter speed/aperture/ settings as well as frame rates. These video files can give individual frames which are often quite adequate for printing. So I would look into that as a way to get a sequence of stills of the swing and perhaps stack em. Otherwise several videos will yield frames with the bat at different positions and at slower shutter speeds to select those you like with blurred tip.

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Sep 22, 2022 00:25:08   #
Grahame Loc: Fiji
 
ABJanes wrote:
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swishing effect for my grandsons as they attempt to hit baseballs at bat. Nikon D7100 18-140MM f/3.5-5.6 on a tripod. The shots would be in AM daylight. I would shoot at f/16 and test & try different shutter speeds with varying filter settings. Do you think this will work? Almost like light trails at night but with out of focus movement of the bat as they take a complete swing. Holiday gift to be framed! Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

AB
Virginia
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swish... (show quote)


Out of curiosity I undertook a google search "baseball bat blur" to see what turned up. In about 5 minutes I had only found one image that showed the bat and batsman blurred through the swing, it did not look good.

Perhaps the lack of examples found suggests this is something that is not easy to achieve under normal circumstances, although an obvious great capture.

I wonder if firing your max bursts possible with hopefully a shot at start and one at/near end can be manipulated with motion blur in PS?

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Sep 22, 2022 10:55:21   #
ABJanes Loc: Jersey Boy now Virginia
 
Thanks to all for your suggestions......

Test & Try with what I have and then build from there.

Cool concept if I can pull it off.

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Sep 22, 2022 11:39:07   #
FunkyL Loc: MD
 
you might consider doing this in post.... PSE offers "add a speed effect" and maybe "create a zoom burst" which might suit if you find it too hard to achieve in camera. I imagine other PP software offers the similar effects. I can't speak from experience, as I haven't used either effect, but they look like they might achieve the effect you're looking for.

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Sep 22, 2022 20:49:32   #
jcboy3
 
ABJanes wrote:
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swishing effect for my grandsons as they attempt to hit baseballs at bat. Nikon D7100 18-140MM f/3.5-5.6 on a tripod. The shots would be in AM daylight. I would shoot at f/16 and test & try different shutter speeds with varying filter settings. Do you think this will work? Almost like light trails at night but with out of focus movement of the bat as they take a complete swing. Holiday gift to be framed! Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

AB
Virginia
Looking for some advice. Trying to create a swish... (show quote)


Read this article:

https://www.exposureguide.com/baseball-photography-tips/

They have a photo at 1/250sec showing some blur of the bat. These are pro players, so I would try 1/60-1/125. I would shoot a high speed burst to catch the entire swing, and then you can pick out what you want.

You will likely need stabilization for this, or mount the camera on a tripod.

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Sep 22, 2022 22:52:31   #
Grahame Loc: Fiji
 
jcboy3 wrote:
Read this article:

https://www.exposureguide.com/baseball-photography-tips/

They have a photo at 1/250sec showing some blur of the bat. These are pro players, so I would try 1/60-1/125. I would shoot a high speed burst to catch the entire swing, and then you can pick out what you want.

You will likely need stabilization for this, or mount the camera on a tripod.


That's certainly a better example than I found but it raises some areas of interest.

The impact of the blur of the bat is aided by the bat/subject isolation from the background. A busy background such as in the ops posted image may not be ideal.

Whilst the image has achieved the blur of the bat the face of the subject can not be seen, which may be a negative with respect to the purpose of the image.

Gee, there's certainly lots to think about in planning.

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