Zoom...

This was shot for the Get Pushed group. I was challenged to experiment with rear curtain flash. I had never even heard of it before! Ordinarily, when you use flash, it goes off at the beginning of your exposure. If you're using a fast shutter speed, this won't make any difference. But at slow shutter speeds, if your flash goes off at the beginning, the flash "freezes" your moving subject into a crisp image which is basically "written over" by the motion blur from your slow exposure. I don't think I explained that well, but when you use rear curtain flash, the flash goes off at the end of the exposure. So, if you're using a slow shutter speed and your object is moving, you capture first the sensation of movement with a blur, which is then "written over" with a crisp image of your subject "frozen" by the flash. The articles I read, recommended leaving your camera settings on rear curtain flash all the time. Most of the time, we're shooting fast shutter speed anyway and it won't make any difference...but if you should happen to capture some movement, it would be better to have a clearer image of your subject superimposed over the blur, rather than covered up by it.

I wish I'd had a better subject for this challenge. I would have loved to capture someone dancing, for instance. This would be a perfect technique for that first dance of a bride and groom. But I was limited on time, and models, and had to settle for Hannah's adorable little car. Jenny was a good sport and zoomed the car repeatedly while I experimented! :) In spite of the lame subject matter, I really did think this turned out cool. Give it a try! My settings were f/2.8, 1/4 sec. exposure, ISO 200. Also, I learned that this works better with a dark background.
Once again, I forgot to post to the blog for the last 2 days. Someone actually contacted me to find out if she'd been left off the mailing list. Bless her! Nice to know someone noticed. :)