ICM Photography - Intentional Camera Movement Discussion

ImageArt

IOTM Winner - Feb 21, Sep 22
MobiSupporter
Real Name
Ann
Device
iPhone15
Onsite
Project Page
Ted, terse , has piqued our interest in ICM with his brilliant ICM images on his thread ‘Terse Fragments’, so after a short discussion with him we have decided to start a dedicated thread to all things ICM.

I’ve copied this post across from Ted’s thread because its such a fantastic example:

B2433727-74AE-4591-A4A7-A1C7660D416F.jpeg

Ted says about this:
Another attempt to approach impressionism, this time by a different route. I took 5 images of this cabin at Wilder Ranch, each with slight camera movement. I layered them in Affinity Photo using the New Stack option and then set the stack type to Median to get the starting mix. After that, I used ACDSee Pro to play with the colors a bit.

Check out this post as another wonderful example and some ideas:
 
Another useful post from Ted:

Andy Gray and David Howell are two that I follow on Instagram whose work I use as a (far distant) target. Both of them have said they layer shots to get their effects rather than relying simply on camera motion. Both also move the various layers around when compositing rather than simply leaving the stack as is. Andy Gray has a YouTube channel with some interesting videos on his style, including this one that follows his workflow in assembling an impressionist image.


And...

If you look at the Instagram feeds I mentioned above for Andy Gray and David Howell, you'll see that they're very similar (to each other and from one image to another). Just yesterday, I stumbled on Roxanne Overton's Instagram feed, which I found very exciting because she uses the same techniques -- camera motion, blur, stacks, and similar -- yet produces very different results. Wow!
 
I shoot mostly outside in daylight, often around mid-day even, so there's a lot of light. Even with the ISO set as low as possible (around 25), I can't always get a slow enough shutter speed for ICM. With bigger cameras, the solution is to put a Neutral Density (ND) filter on the lens. I finally ran across an adapter from Moment that fits the Moment case and makes it possible to mount a 37mm filter (large enough not to cause vignetting, not so large as to be ruinously expensive). To go with the adapter, I got a variable ND filter that can cut from 2 to 8 stops of light.

C85AB7EF-4D13-4EDD-86F7-4AB7EE3D1432.jpeg


83CAD6EB-A8EB-4E90-A60A-C21FCE8EAC0A.jpeg


The combo of adapter and filter is easy to slip in a pocket and is quick to attach to the bayonet mount of the Moment case. (I'm sure there must be similar adapters for other cases.)
 
Last edited:
My ICM images often come out rather flat, lacking contrast and color. I found that an app that offers HSL (hue/saturation/lightness) control can bring back some vibrance. I use ACDSee Pro, which I bought long ago, but Ultralight is a very good free editor that also offers HSL. Others do also.

By tweaking the HSL settings, you can go from this

206CB73F-B571-413A-A54F-F5C0E7222763.jpeg


to this

09CF2A88-D557-4D29-A409-F2416432DF3B.jpeg


or even to this (if you're feeling dramatic)

4F5195E6-CD6B-48CB-8E3E-CD76A0BB88C8.jpeg


The original is a stack of a few camera motion shots of the side of our house.
 
Another experiment, using Slow Shutter Cam. Instead of setting a time for the shutter, I set it to B (Bulb), which opens the shutter and keeps it open until you press the shutter button again. As you do this, you can watch the image develop on the screen. For this particular image, a single shot, I kept the camera still for a bit after tripping the shutter, and then moved it.

19FCA52A-9E21-426E-B115-B4867F0B7955.jpeg



After tweaking in ACDSee Pro:

23C2BEBB-AD7F-4D63-B0A9-B34FC2886776.jpeg
 
Are you going for abstract or impressionist? The ones of the side of your house I'd see as abstract, but the next set I see as impressionist.
The way you explain Slow Shutter Cam (not available on Android) is much the same as Bluristic works. The colour palette is lovely on the side of house pics.

Didn't realise this was a dedicated thread thought it was yours still Ted :lol:
Might be an idea to bring the IG links over to here as well for reference.
Its an area of photography I've always loved although I'd personally just call it BLUR, but hey ho we now have another category!!

I guess using slow shutter cam/bluristic are not ICM in the way that ICM aficionados operate?
 
Last edited:
I shoot mostly outside in daylight, often around mid-day even, so there's a lot of light. Even with the ISO set as low as possible (around 25), I can't always get a slow enough shutter speed for ICM. With bigger cameras, the solution is to put a Neutral Density (ND) filter on the lens. I finally ran across an adapter from Moment that fits the Moment case and makes it possible to mount a 37mm filter (large enough not to cause vignetting, not so large as to be ruinously expensive). To go with the adapter, I got a variable ND filter that can cut from 2 to 8 stops of light.

View attachment 158384

View attachment 158385

The combo of adapter and filter is easy to slip in a pocket and is quick to attach to the bayonet mount of the Moment case. (I'm sure there must be similar adapters for other cases.)
I have the 37mm adapter too and was looking last night for a suitable ND filter so your post is fortuitous. I have to be honest and say that I don’t know enough about them and love the idea of a variable one. This one is very reasonably priced.
 
My ICM images often come out rather flat, lacking contrast and color. I found that an app that offers HSL (hue/saturation/lightness) control can bring back some vibrance. I use ACDSee Pro, which I bought long ago, but Ultralight is a very good free editor that also offers HSL. Others do also.

By tweaking the HSL settings, you can go from this

View attachment 158386

to this

View attachment 158387

or even to this (if you're feeling dramatic)

View attachment 158388

The original is a stack of a few camera motion shots of the side of our house.
Nice examples, Ted.
 
Another experiment, using Slow Shutter Cam. Instead of setting a time for the shutter, I set it to B (Bulb), which opens the shutter and keeps it open until you press the shutter button again. As you do this, you can watch the image develop on the screen. For this particular image, a single shot, I kept the camera still for a bit after tripping the shutter, and then moved it.

View attachment 158392


After tweaking in ACDSee Pro:

View attachment 158393
Have you tried tweaking the HSL
Another experiment, using Slow Shutter Cam. Instead of setting a time for the shutter, I set it to B (Bulb), which opens the shutter and keeps it open until you press the shutter button again. As you do this, you can watch the image develop on the screen. For this particular image, a single shot, I kept the camera still for a bit after tripping the shutter, and then moved it.

View attachment 158392


After tweaking in ACDSee Pro:

View attachment 158393
Love these!
 
Here is an experiment with Slow Shutter with Motion Blur, High Blur Strength and 1 second Shutter Speed. I used a circular movement. Once I had saved the shot I also saved a freeze frame of the start. I haven’t decided how I might go ahead with this but I’m thinking of bringing back details afterwards or adding multiple exposures rather than pure ICM.

A141B9E8-9C08-4FE6-93C1-DF19A624FBAA.jpeg

I’ve taken the image into Snapseed and upped the saturation. I also reduced the structure completed but added a little sharpness under Details.

094875D1-7784-4217-81A4-329B3FA67D7B.jpeg

This was after applying an oil effect in Becasso

50D62F6E-052E-4718-A920-8A747D89DD93.jpeg

This was after bringing back some details and running it through Becasso but not sure it worked great for this image.
 
Its an area of photography I've always loved although I'd personally just call it BLUR, but hey ho we now have another category!!

I guess using slow shutter cam/bluristic are not ICM in the way that ICM aficionados operate?
Sure, there's a lot of overlap among ICM, long exposure, and other kinds of blur, both in tools and looks. I think that's why a lot of the practitioners call it impressionism or expressionism or abstract.

Are you going for abstract or impressionist? The ones of the side of your house I'd see as abstract, but the next set I see as impressionist.

At the moment, I'm just trying to get the hang of the techniques and to see what they produce, so I don't have much in the way of a specific intention. I agree with you about those two samples, and I suppose I was thinking vaguely impressionist in both cases, although the house shot didn't turn out that way.

In terms of what I like to look at and want to emulate, I'd have to say both.
 
Ooops, I posted this in the wrong place. Here is what I found on the Internet re. iPhone ICM. https://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/11/24/intentional-camera-movement/
I have Slow Shutter Cam, so will experiment with it later. It’s a very short piece and a very short video, and I’m not sure how old it is, but I’ve had a bit of an experiment and it seems to work. :rolleyes:
 
There's now a 32-page sample of the first issue of ICM Photography Magazine available for online viewing. (Magazines are a chancy business, so the odds of survival aren't great, but the sample here is worth looking at and includes photographers I'd never heard of before. Example: Cynthia Haynes, a wildlife and travel photographer using ICM. And I love "Red Turban" by Helen Thomson that's included in the sample.
 
There's now a 32-page sample of the first issue of ICM Photography Magazine available for online viewing. (Magazines are a chancy business, so the odds of survival aren't great, but the sample here is worth looking at and includes photographers I'd never heard of before. Example: Cynthia Haynes, a wildlife and travel photographer using ICM. And I love "Red Turban" by Helen Thomson that's included in the sample.
Love that giraffe! Yes the red turban is similar (he says laughing) to the posts we had a few months ago when we last had a blurfest.

We need to get zenjenny to look at some of these.
 
Love that giraffe! Yes the red turban is similar (he says laughing) to the posts we had a few months ago when we last had a blurfest.

We need to get zenjenny to look at some of these.
Yes, the red turban made me remember that, too. And one way to find more mobile ICM photos on Instagram is to follow the hashtag #slowshuttercam. Not all of the results are mobile and not all have camera movement, but a large number have both.

And on Flicker you can search for https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=iphone icm&view_all=1 to see photos tagged with both iPhone and ICM. (You can also search for mobile, although then you start getting Mobile, Alabama, as well. :D)
 
Back
Top Bottom