Dance in Motion, Cinco de Mayo and April Contest Winners!

Welcome to another week of photography fun on the Light Stalking website.

In our “Emotion in Motion” challenge, we've been assigned by Tersha and Dahlia to work on the dance of emotion in photography. For this, they recommended we consider freezing motion on any particular subject or action using slow shutter speed. When putting shutter speed before anything else, certain things turn somewhat predictable; especially when talking about lighting, dynamism, and expressions. And if that wasn't enough of a challenge by itself, we were also asked to portray any movement suggestive of dance!

Paying attention to our shutter speed means thinking about the amount of time our camera's sensor is exposed to light. Therefore, time is vital in photography. And not just when freezing something but also conveying the moment. Cameras record our surroundings in fractions of a second. Panning and burst shooting are great for adding motion to our beloved still format. But time can also be understood socially through the timeless quality certain photographs are capable of conveying. Capturing motion in photography is both challenging and exciting, and offers endless possibilities for creativity.

Under such circumstances, shutter priority mode allows us to precisely define a time-value (TV), making it useful when aiming to freeze or show motion. Imagine feeling inspired, and when walking down a street you encounter a scene that could look interesting with some motion blur. That's exactly what happened to me a couple of years ago when I saw this scene:

For it, I set the time value in my camera to 1/15s, cranked the ISO up to 1600, and twisted my aperture ring all the way up! The result is something more pleasing than a static shot. Not to mention that it would have been impossible to pull without using any flash.

Photo of the Week

This image was posted in the just-mentioned challenge; so imagine adding another layer of visual complexity by doing colour street photography!

Overall, this candid frame fits within what we could flag as humor. The maximum amount of detail makes it delightful to look around and the tonal treatment feels most adequate to say the least. Also, I would say this is a fun reminder of how important it is to keep our eyes open for unique moments like this happening around us. So congrats @patrick, thanks for sharing such a stunning photograph with us!

Weekly Photography Challenge Digest

Thanks Tersha and Dahlia for pushing our creative boundaries one step forward every week!

Waiting in the Wings

These are all pan shots at relatively slow shutter speeds:

In the “Zone”

For more visual imagery, check out the 694th original challenge post!

A Highlight on the Latest Activity in our Community

Robert Apple shared this unbelievable landscape photograph:

> What you can’t see is the full moon is behind me just rising and that’s lighting up the snow.

Tersha shared what appears to be something from the Harry Potter films, a “Hematite pendulum”.

Rob Eyers stumbled with a creative ceiling decoration:

beth had some fun on cinco de mayo:

> get your paws off my tacos 🌮🌮

Rob asked about the things behind our photographic habits in this thread, and it got some really interesting answers indeed! And later in the week, he announced the winners of the April Contest! The overall winner is Robert Apple with “whispers of the past”:

Last but not least, if you want to make out the most of your LightStalking user account, make sure to check the latest posts. Also, don't forget to swim the Mobile Monday Challenge!

We'd Love To Hear Your Thoughts

Our Feedback Forum is a fine place for all those people wanting to grow fast as photographers. Here, you'll get your work reviewed by friendly photographers, but you'll also have the chance to comment on the work of others. We believe in the power of feedback, and here are the latest shots shared in the pool:

The Shark Tank is a great place to learn and to discuss, but please read the instructions in order to get the best experience. Share your comments, opinions and doubts on any or all of the images above. We also will be delighted to see some of your own images. Remember all comments are given to the photographs; not the photographers.

Also, don't forget to participate in our current challenge on the faces of joy and sorrow!