Wind movement in scenes especially with large format photography

[j.e.simmons]

that's perfect !

I figure the wind is there might as well accept it move on ..

That's my thinking, too.

[sanking]

That's my thinking, too.

Movement in nature can work for you as well as against you.

Dick Arentz made a photo once with a 12X20 camera inside a large building where chickens were raised, printed as palladium print. The long exposure of several seconds shows the white chickens as a blur as they run around in front of the camera. I wanted to make the same type of image but those type of buildings where chickens were raised that were at one time common in the south have pretty much disappeared.

Sandy

[rdenney]

It depends on how one visualizes the scene.

I waited a good while for the dangling vines to pause for this one, but it wouldn’t have matched my visualization for them to be blurred.


Espada Acequia Aqueduct, 1991. FP4, 1/2 second at f/22.

Rick “usually interested in a sense of endless detail” Denney

[John Layton]

Sandy, while I'm sure that D. Arentz' "running chickens" photograph is stunning...the concept somehow does not sit quite as well with me personally as does P. Caponigro's "running deer." Oh well...horses (or chickens? or deer?) for courses, I guess!

[Scott Davis]

It depends on how one visualizes the scene.

I waited a good while for the dangling vines to pause for this one, but it wouldn’t have matched my visualization for them to be blurred.


Espada Acequia Aqueduct, 1991. FP4, 1/2 second at f/22.

Rick “usually interested in a sense of endless detail” Denney

I'd have loved to see a second version with the vines moving, but I suspect that they A: wouldn't have moved enough, and there aren't enough of them to do the idea justice. But well-seen and well-rendered.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

No. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to remember the exact spot on Hwy 299 east of here. Along the Trinity River, somewhere.

8x10 carbon print

But photographing in the redwoods for years, one gets to know when the wind will die down...or not. When the down-canyon breezes slow down and before the up-canyon breezes takes their place, there can be a time of still air. Between storms. The vertical (8x10 carbon print) was a two-minute exposure. My boys did a good job of holding still, too. The 4x10 carbon print -- I took a little nap during that exposure.

Vaughn, I love these two examples. Vaughn and I have worked in the redwoods together for some time now. There have been many times in the Southern Redwoods when Mother Nature holds her breath for us. My example is a fifteen minute exposure 8x20 carbon print.

[Maris Rusis]

It has been said, by Paul Strand I think, that a tree disturbed by a gust of wind will settle back as it was before the gust arrived. This exactly for every leaf, twig, and branch. I haven't done enough daylight time exposures to confirm this. Can anyone?

[Dugan]

In my experience, the wind only starts to blow when I pull the dark slide.

[John Layton]

Funny thing I learned about Saguaro cacti many years back...that they can continue to resonate long after the wind dies down. Thing is...sometimes they'll resonate for a few seconds, then be absolutely still for a few more before resonating once more - the trick being to watch carefully and trip the shutter during a "non-resonant" phase (or not, depending on ones goals).

[Mark Sampson]

Maris Rusis, I've read that Strand used that technique. Certain of his nature close-ups from the 1920s suggest it; I'm thinking of a well-known image of a toadstool.
Dugan, you've described a law of nature.
John Layton, your discovery surprises me. I live surrounded by saguaros now; but the light here is generally so bright that long exposures are difficult. And I don't photograph in the late afternoon when the wind blows hard...