Today I went down to the local beach with my camera setup to do more ICM – Intentional Camera Movement images. I was recommended to check out a British photographer who does a lot in this style and he had very helpful videos on his website, taking you through his shooting process, selection of images and editing.
You can find him at Andrew S Gray Photography
After watching his videos I had some new ideas and techniques I wanted to try – he does a shorter shutter speed and flicks his camera in different directions, often blending several images to get the final scene.
This time I used my variable ND filter screwed onto my 17-55mm lens which allowed me to change the darkness of the filter depending on the light conditions and how much movement I wanted in my shots. It is a lot more adaptable than just a single filter and easier to carry around than the square Lee one in a bracket too.
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Down at the beach we have lots of beach tussock grass, it was a blue sky day with some clouds and lots of waves coming in with a stiff easterly breeze. So many chances to play.
When I got home I deleted 500 images to give an an idea of how many I took!
This is the classic style of ICM beach scene, sand – sky – waves – with some rich sea tones and colours.
I found the colours were a bit intrusive so opted for a BW treatment as well to show up all the lovely soft textural detail in the waves.
The iconic cabbage tree found all over NZ but lots down by our beach so I decided to do the usual vertical movement to emphasise the tree lines.
Not sure it really works but this is about experimenting and trying new things 🙂
A different view pointing more south and getting the Peninsula in the background with very nice wave textures.
I processed this in BW so all the different textural elements could be properly appreciated – the lines in the sand in the bottom right corner, the edge of a wave coming in, wave and sea detail and some great cloud structure over the darker land.
Finally I wanted to get a bit more creative in the style that I had seen Andy demonstrate in his editing. He uses Nik Analog FX to do the final tweaks to his image, something I haven’t tried before.
Had a play with the double exposure and a colour preset and then bought back into PS for some extra tweaks. Its dark and moody and has a lot of movement and I like this a lot.
So a useful afternoon shooting and editing, even if I did end up with wet feet 🙂
Interested in your feedback on these shots – what does or doesn’t work for you?
Next time – take GUMBOOTS
Learning to See Light 
I love these images. intentional camera movement can be hard, and it doesn’t work on every scene, but you have pulled it off nicely.