Week 43: Perpetual Motion

Anyone who believes perpetual motion exists only in theory has never been around Jonah. The boy has two speeds - fast and off. Even in "off" mode, it seems like he just keeps moving (he's a very restless sleeper) When he sits still at the dinner table, his legs stop, but his mouth starts. He is very verbal and chatters away incessantly Just being around him can make you tired; in fact, I have come to the conclusion that toddlers get their energy by syphoning it away from any adult with 20 yards. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that he is so curious and so ready to learn, explore and experiment. I just wish he could take a 10 minute break from time to time!

In all seriousness, it's a great deal of fun watching him, listening to him and trying to keep up with him.  Mom and Dad stay tired right now, but we are having a great time all the same.

I've been trying to figure out a way to show his activity in a still frame for a few weeks now. I recently came across a video of a couple of shoots that Joe McNally did - one with a dancer and one with a martial artist - where he combined motion blur with flashes. This is a derivative of his technique and his much better photos. This photo isn't exactly what I had in mind, but it's close. I think I know what I could do to improve it, but I'd have to buy some more stuff or rent a space larger than our basement. On top of all that, I'd need Jonah to listen to direction a bit more - so I decided to go with this one.

Photo - this is done in the camera with one frame. Photoshop only came into play for some curves and saturation adjustments to darken the background and bring out the light trails. Stick with me on this one - Jonah is walking on and in front of a draped piece of black fabric. Directly above his head where you see the light trails is a Profoto head in a 1x4' stripbox pointed straight down. That light is used only for the modeling light - it does not flash, just provides a low continuous light. There is another Profoto head camera left in a beauty dish. It flashed as the shutter curtain closed. That flash is triggered by a small speedlight on camera set to rear curtain sync, pointing backward and dialed all the way down. That speedlight does not influence the exposure in anyway - just triggers the Profoto in the beauty dish. This is a Bulb exposure. I started the shutter when Jonah started walking toward the scene - off camera right; I released the shutter when he approached beauty dish.

Hope you enjoyed the little experiment this week. It was a lot of fun trying to create it.