If in doubt, shoot ICM

My son is home this week (as I write this) from Uni, and we decided to go out while the weather was cooperating to photograph a sunset. The last few nights have been crisp and clear, with a lot of colour in the sky. So we were hopeful of a good night's photography.

Point Elizabeth. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50 EZ. f/22 @ 1/5th sec, ISO 200

We had a few errands to do before heading out, so by the time we got our gear together, sunset was fast approaching. We decided therefore, to go down to Point Elizabeth, just 5 minutes away from home by car - as good a spot as any to catch the sunset. Unfortunately when we got there, it quickly became apparent that we weren't going to be treated to an overly colourful sunset.

Not to be deterred, we both headed along the beach looking for compositions - hoping that things might change and the light might suddenly erupt in a blaze of colour. No such luck...

In these circumstances, faced with only ok to average conditions (there was some colour in the sky) and rapidly decreasing light, I switch gears from traditional photography mode and go into 'creative' mode. These are perfect conditions for ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) photography.

Evening glow. Olympus E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/16 @ 1/8th sec. ISO 200

I absolutely love doing ICM photography. In fact, I don't know why I don't do it more often? I've been experimenting with intentional camera movement long before it was the 'trendy' thing to do (it did the rounds on Youtube about a year ago). I love the beautiful abstract quality of images that you can create with this technique. They remind me of a Turner painting, where the landscape and weather conditions are expressed abstractly rather than figuratively. And they also happen to be a lot of fun to create.

Point Elizabeth Sunset. OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ lens. f/16 @ 1/6th sec, ISO 200

I'm fairly certain that I've written about this technique before on my blog (probably more than once), but I'll go over it again quickly to save you from having to go back and find it 😄

Basically, set a very small aperture (f/16, f/22) so you restrict the amount of light reaching the sensor. This will give you longer shutter speeds as a result. You want longer shutter speeds so you can create the 'intentional' blur. But you also don't really want it to go on for too long, or the image will just end up a complete blurry mess! I still like to retain a very obvious feeling of the image being a landscape - grounded in some reality - rather than a completely abstract image. So around a half to 2 seconds is usually about right. If the light is getting low, and you set your camera at f/16 (and use your lowest ISO), then you should easily be getting half-second shutter speeds.

Golden Light. Olympus E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/13 @ 2 secs, ISO 200

Once you've set a small aperture, giving a longish shutter speed, then the last thing you'll want to do (if your camera/lens has it) is turn image stabilisation OFF. You are trying to create some camera shake and blur in your photos after all. Having image stabilisation turned on will only freak the camera out and make it fight against you.

And then, have at it! Hand-hold your camera (no tripods allowed) and wiggle it around during the exposure. Move it slowly, quickly, horizontally, vertically.... just play! Again, as I said earlier, I still like my abstract ICM images to look like landscapes - but with the added abstraction created by the camera movement.

But it's really up to you how you decide to move the camera around, and what kind of results you'll get doing it. Take LOTS of images. And this is a time when it is ok to 'chimp' the back of your camera, since the feedback you'll get from your camera movements will be invaluable. If I flick or move a certain way, and like the result on the lcd screen, then I'll do the same action a few more times. The results are always different, but I usually find one in the series that I really like.

Point Elizabeth Abstract. OM-D E-M1. f/16 @ 1/2sec, ISO 200

Be prepared to take hundreds of images, and then throw away 99% of them. It's a very hit and miss technique - with a lot more miss than hit. But if you do come away with one or two keepers, they may just become some of  your best images. If you haven't already, give it a try. You might find, like me, that it will become one of your favourite ways to create unique photographs.