photography | At Home with Tech

December 5, 2021

How Motion Blur can Improve your Photography

Softness in your photos can be a desirable effect if that’s your goal. Adding in a touch of blur around your main object can create a bit of a mystical look. Here’s what happened when I slowed down my camera’s shutter above The Rink at Rockefeller Center.

When snapping a photo, any motion in your frame has the potential to look blurry and ruin the shot. As the father of an active eleven-year-old boy who’s been moving about pretty quickly over the past decade, I’ve often been preoccupied with being able to freeze the moment in my photos and capturing any movement without blur.

Sometimes though, the blurred motion in a shot is the most important part to capture. The key is to isolate it without affecting the rest of the photo. Of course, to accomplish that, you just need to slow down your shutter speed and make sure your camera doesn’t move. (A tripod is especially handy in these moments.)

Here are a couple photographic opportunities I’ve run across with my Panasonic Lumix LX-10 that benefited from this approach.

Moving Water
The silky flow of rushing water in nature can be a prime candidate for this type of visual exercise.

Waterfall with motion blur (Zoar hiking trail in Connecticut)

The waterfall without motion blur

People Walking
The blur of a crowd of moving people can offer your camera a great opportunity to ‘see’ motion.

Grand Central Terminal with motion blur of all the rushing commuters

The same space without motion blur

The Art of Chasing Blur
Again, the key to success when allowing targeted blur in your shots is making sure that everything else is in focus. Otherwise, that dreamy feel you’re going for will instead look like you’ve fallen asleep behind your camera!

Enjoy finding the right blur to enhance your photos!

November 7, 2021

Slowing Down in New York City on a Sunday

Moving through Manhattan doesn’t always have to be a huge rush. If you take a moment to slow down while you walk the streets, you can actually take in some relaxed weekend energies. Here are a few New York moments I spotted.

When I visit my father on a Sunday afternoon for lunch, I’ve gotten used to walking from Grand Central Terminal to the Upper East Side. Of course, taking the Lexington Avenue subway is faster, but during the pandemic I’ve preferred outdoor spaces. I usually do a power walk to minimize the extra time required for my two-mile trek. But more recently, I’ve tried something new…

I just don’t walk so fast, and I pay more attention to my immediate surroundings. And I keep my Panasonic Lumix LX-10 camera in my right hand as I go.

Don’t Look Away
I know it’s not a revolutionary idea, but having grown up in Manhattan and spent many adult years walking its streets as part of my commute, I’ve learned to tune out much of the dynamic and sometimes chaotic environment.

But on a Sunday, life on the streets of New York is a bit less intense. And there’s more of an opportunity to enjoy the moment. Everyone seems to have slowed down, if just a bit.

So, I recently traded in my speed-walking strategy for the opportunity to stroll to the Upper East Side and look around for moments that might be interesting to photograph.

Here are a few that I spotted.

Sunday Joy
Beyond my little photographic exercise, I think some might say that I was also being more ‘present’ in my surroundings. It felt good.

Plus, add in a nice lunch with my 88-year-old father, and I’d call that a really good Sunday in New York City!

October 17, 2021

How to Give your Photos a More Personal Touch in Post

If you want your fall photos to have more pop, consider taking these steps after you snap your pics.

I admit it. I often like to add in a bit more color and contrast to the photos I snap. A little more brightness too. The process is easy to do in any number of ways. You can do it directly using your smartphone’s photo app or in a photo-editing program like Adobe Lightroom.

Add your Own Ingredients
Enhancing the look of your pictures is like adding your own personal filter, and this practice should give your pics more pop without making them look too manipulated.

Even if the colors start to look a little too good to be true, if the effect pleases you, I say why not?! (By now, haven’t we all become photographic artists at some level?)

And with fall colors all around us, now’s a perfect time to take some shots and squeeze a little more oomph out of your images.

Here are a few of my own shots from my iPhone and Panasonic Lumix LX-10 during my family’s recent apple-picking adventure. I’ve positioned the original photos on the left next to my ‘Barrett-boosted-versions.’ (And if you need to look closely to spot some of the subtle differences, then I’ve done a good job.)
Take More than One Step Forward
Sure, you can always slap on one of your photo app’s premade filters to give your pics more zing, but contributing your own special visual ingredients in post can maintain your sense of ownership.