When photographing, we often strive to keep our subjects in focus, and our image sharp. And yet, sometimes, we tend to use blur as a visual effect in order to emphasize a mood, look, subject or the visual story itself.

Hence, the use motion blur aka long exposure aka “dragging the shutter.”

Motion blur can help create ghosting effects, and make objects and subjects disappear (and eventually reappear), depending how much or little we drag the shutter. All in all, experimenting with motion blur can be a fascinating photography exercise.

[Note: when using a very long shutter speed and camera, it’s often a good idea to also use a tripod, to avoid unwanted camera shake.]

Here are a few examples of motion blur (aka long exposure) images captured with the iPhone 15 Pro Max:

In the first image, using long exposure gives the ferry sailing by the NYC skyline a ghostly appearance, and also softens the water surface :

In the second image, using long exposure softens, smooth the water surface:

(this technique is often used when photographing waterfalls, to give the water a silky look)

Also, here’s a #tbt black-and-white motion blur image #shotoniphone:

As always, thank you for stopping by,

Alina Oswald