ICM (part 1/3)
One of my photography technique that I´ve been refining and using through the past years is called Intended Camera Movement (ICM). This is first blog of a three part series where I try to explain how to apply ICM and what it means to me.
Let us start right with a domain that I just explored this morning: a sunflower field, some houses and a tree in the background.
One would says “nice shots” … but thats all. The view, the chosen objects, the focus and cut-outs are … standard.
What if we were moving the camera lens during the shot? Take the following ingredients
a digital (or analog) photo camera (mounted on a tripod)
a camera lens with a certain variability in focal length, e.g. 24-105 mm
a grey filter ND16, ND64 or ND1000 topped on the lens
camera mode: manual “S” and pre-configure an exposure time of 2 - 12 seconds
and start to experiment. ICM is … where the real fun begins for the photo artist.
Trigger the shutter button - you got some seconds to move the camera in various - more or less intended ways. A special movement is changing the zoom factor of your lens.
Do not worry too much about slight under exposures - these can be corrected in the (digital) post-processing phase.
Anyhow … we achieved to lift the “boring standard sunflower shots” to a real fascinating “wow” effect.