Motion Blur (doesnt belong here but not getting help elsewhere)

[mwatson]

Okay, I know this picture doesn't really belong here but I was not getting any advice on the other critiques.

I did not have my tripod so I had to hold it steady on a park bench. The settings were f-11 and one second exposure (had to go shorter due to lack of tripod). I am going back to this area this weekend and wanted to reshoot the picture.

I placed my wife in front of it so she could have a fun picture and to emphasize the motion. Should I place her back in the shot or is she taking away from the subject?

Should I go for a tighter aperture?

Should I lose the black sky and center picture more?

As always, thank you.

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by mwatson

Okay, I know this picture doesn't really belong here but I was not getting any advice on the other critiques.

I did not have my tripod so I had to hold it steady on a park bench. The settings were f-11 and one second exposure (had to go shorter due to lack of tripod). I am going back to this area this weekend and wanted to reshoot the picture.

I placed my wife in front of it so she could have a fun picture and to emphasize the motion. Should I place her back in the shot or is she taking away from the subject?

Should I go for a tighter aperture?

Should I lose the black sky and center picture more?

As always, thank you.

you might want to look at the critique guidelines first, this may help in getting help, the exif data is helpful to giving proper feedback...

anyways I'm from jupiter let me know if you ever want to hook up for a photowalk... I do mostly landscape, wildlife, but i'm willing to try something different..

[John Hendry]

hi

For what its worth I would go further back get more in, use the motion as a focus.

Your wife is a bit of a distraction with her looking at the camera Although it might be nice to have people in the image just hard for them not to be a distraction.

Hope this helps nice shot

[mwatson]

Exposure 1 sec
Aperture f-11
Pentax k10d
Sigma 70-200mm
Focal Length (not sure, had to crop people out anyway)
ISO 200
Did not white balance

Sorry... forgot.

[RichardTaylor]

What are you trying to achieve in the photograph.?

What is the subject? Your wife, the ride, or an environmental portait of your wife and the ride.?

[mwatson]

I was conflicted in deciding what I wanted to do with this picture. At first I was going for just a neat motion blur with lights against a black sky but after looking at it, I thought that I could get a cool contrast of still versus motion by putting her in the picture. So I guess the answer to your question is an environmental portrait of my wife and the ride.

I did not instruct her to smile at the camera, I asked her to look off in the distance to the right of the camera, but due to the lack of a tripod, this is the only picture that came out properly.

I guess this is a hard one to judge because her looking directly at you is pretty distracting from the overall idea and effect.

[Krusty79]

I second John's comments. I would like to see less of the black sky and more foreground, if it is not distracting. You said you wanted to emphasize the motion, but I think having your wife stationary works against that.

[milosh]

Since you say your goal is an environmental portrait of your wife, if I were you I would get a bit lower (the sky isn't helping the shot, but leave a little bit of it for reference) and position her closer to the camera. Right now, she's dwarfed by the carousel.
Be careful when positioning her towards the camera, because this relationship between her and the carousel will dictate who's the dominant subject. You can also use some fill flash, just experiment a bit with flash and different apertures until you find the aperture needed to light her enough. If it turns out that this aperture gives you a too short shutter speed, try decreasing the flash output. I think this way you can create a very interesting portrait of her. Just tell her to stand really calm for a second.