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Visual Art and Digital Photography:
Realism and Personal Expression

It is very rare that an art form comes along that is both realistic and accurate but also personal and expressive. In the past these two were seen as opposite poles that were incompatible. Yet slow shutter speed digital photography (or long exposure photography if you prefer) can be just that. Let me explain.

At slow shutter speeds a picture may be blurry, or show movement but it is an accurate photographic record of what occurred during that 2 second or 8 second exposure. At the same time the way the photographer goes about shooting is very personal -- and it is unlikely that two photographers shooting the same subject at slow shutter speeds would take photos that looked the same. This is because when movement is added to a photo, the personal touch of the photographer comes into play.

Slow Shutter Speed Photography (SSS) adds a number of variables to traditional photography. To keep it simple, I emphasize that there are three main variables -- yet in addition there are plenty of other variables that are related to these three. The photos in this article are from my book: Experimental Digital Photography published by Lark Books and Sterling Publishing.

THE THREE MAIN VARIABLES ARE:

== Subject Movement:
To isolate this put the camera on a tripod or hold it rock solid still in your hands and turn on the optical image stabilizer -- so that the only movement recorded is that of the subject such as a musician playing a guitar during a slow shutter speed setting -- e.g., 2 seconds.

== Camera Movement:
To isolate this move the camera while taking photos of still lights, buildings, furniture (anything that does not move) and all that will be recorded is the path the camera took in its movement across these still objects during a slow shutter speed setting -- such as 8 seconds.

== Combined Subject And Camera Movement:
This is where the fun really starts and where realistic and personal expression definitely cross paths. A simple example is to pan the camera in sync with a moving subject which in turn blurs the background; this will record a picture that gives a sense of motion. Yet with this seemingly simple technique there are an unlimited (and yes, I can do the math) number of possibilities which will be very personal but also accurate and realistic.

MORE VARIABLES RELATED TO THE ABOVE THREE:

As the Futurist painters pointed out years ago, subject movement involves two kinds of movement:
Absolute movement is the general direction in which the subject is moving, whether the subject is a person walking, a dog running, or a car accelerating.
Relative movement is the internal movement within a subject's motion such as the wheels on a car, the legs of a dog, or the arms that move as a person walks. (Quoted from my book, Experimental Digital Photography, Lark Books/Sterling Publishing, 2010.)

ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: GHOSTING
Ghosting is one of those wonderful slow shutter speed effects. Instead of solid bodies, people are often registered as wisps of smoke or a transparent pathway. The background with slow shutter speed digital photography makes a huge difference.

== Ghosting: Dark Backgrounds
A dark background will often result in 'ghosting' where multiple images of the subject can be recorded as the subject moves against that background.

== Negative Ghosting: Light Backgrounds
With a light background, a photographer can get the opposite effect from a dark background -- in this case the subject's movement is often erased and only those areas that did not expose the light background remain.

ADDITIONAL EFFECTS: LINE
The movement of the camera often creates line. As painters know line is a key element in drawing or painting.
By moving the camera, points of light become lines and these lines have force and direction which become part of the composition.

IS THIS REALLY PHOTOGRAPHY?

Now I realize that some people have questioned whether this kind of photography is really photography, but quite simply photography is the action of light on light sensitive material, nothing more -- and thus what I have described really is photography. Others might question whether it is realistic -- since this approach may not produce a sharp image: well no greater minds than Einstein and Picasso asserted that the world we see and assume is often quite different from reality. The kinds of imagery I have described in this article depict one aspect of this unseen reality which digital photography can now make visible. See quotes about this unseen reality next.

The artist "lives at a time of great scientific and technological breakthroughs. These discoveries uncover new frontiers of perception and offer new representations of the world. Access to what was until then invisible becomes possible."
Paul Klee, painter

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very consistent one."
Albert Einstein

"The age-old quest of both art and science has been to seek new representations of phenomena beyond appearances.
"The main lesson of Einstein's 1905 relativity theory is that in thinking about these subjects, we cannot trust our senses. Picasso and Einstein believed that art and science are means for exploring worlds beyond perceptions, beyond appearances. Direct viewing deceives, as Einstein knew by 1905 in physics, and Picasso by 1907 in art."
Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc, Arthur I. Miller, Basic Books, 2002

This is part of a series of articles about visual art and digital photography.
#1. Visual Art & Digital Photography: Realism & Personal Expression
== How digital photography can be both realistic and expressive at the same time
#2. Visual Art & Digital Photography: Part 2: Space, Time And Memory
== How Experimental Digital Photography can evoke a sense of remembrance
#3. Visual Art & Digital Photography, Part 3: Art, Memory & Subjective Truth
== Is figurative art/photography limited while abstract art/photography is not?
#4. Visual Art & Digital Photography, Part 4: A Picture Energy Field
== Composing photographic elements in a dynamic manner

NOTE:See a list of my other articles here at PIXIQ. www.pixiq.com/contributors/rick-doble

For more about my approach to photography see my book: Experimental Digital Photography.

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