Guitarist 3-D

Tonight I had some fun with what I am calling zoom blur.  There is probably a technical term for it, but I don't know it.  There are some really artistic people at my church, and they put together a cool stage set-up for the series that our pastor is going to be speaking on for the next few months.  Check out my Flickr photostream to see the whole stage.

This kind of effect is simple to achieve.  You just set your camera to a slow shutter speed and accompanying aperture, and zoom in on your subject.  Press the shutter button down, and before it opens back up again, zoom out in a smooth, controlled movement.  It is much easier with a tripod, I have to say.  The lights in the photo below were strong enough that I could get away without mine tonight, fortunately. 

It can take some experimentation to get this right, so you might not get quite the look you want on the first try.   

The biggest key is to not jerk the camera down as you turn your zoom ring.  Again, a tripod will help with that, but you can do without if you are careful.

Update:  check out our worship pastor's blog for more pictures & info.

Nikon D90
105mm - ISO 1000 
1/3s- f/5.6