Dubai: How can a flat piece of paper show the frenetic energy of movement?
At its core, that is what a photograph is – a two-dimensional capture. And the image on the piece of paper doesn’t really go anywhere.
But when a photographer uses the effect of blurring, your brain reads that picture as movement, to make sense of it.
You’ve probably seen hundreds of images using this effect – wild horses racing in open fields, their legs a blur, or your child about to be drenched by a splash of water in the pool.
The effect adds drama, reveals emotions and freezes an action for posterity.
National Geographic’s blog has a tip for reader photographers interested in capturing motion: “The method of choosing a long shutter speed and following the action as it takes place is called ‘panning’. Part of the fun of panning is that the photographer is never really certain how the resulting image will turn out. Photographing in this way can sometimes reveal things that our eyes cannot see.”
We asked Gulf News’ twitter followers to pick their favourite reader photograph of the month of October. They retweeted the picture they liked best. The pictures were ranked based on the highest number of retweets. Here, we present the winners.
Editor’s note: Do you want to participate in our monthly Reader Picture Competition? Send us your best photographs, with captions, at readers@gulfnews.com.
FIRST PLACE
An egret caught his attention at Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary in Dubai. He said: ‘I am interested in capturing pictures of wildlife and Nature. Globally, over the decades, there has been a reduction in the number of various species of animals and plants. So through photography, I want to capture them as they are in Nature, as a record of the moment, to cherish in the future, for the benefit of upcoming generations. I would like to thank the authorities in Dubai for taking various steps to preserve the natural environment.’
His picture received 59 retweets and 73 likes on twitter, landing him in first place.
SECOND PLACE
Manoj Gurnani is a commercial services manager, based in Dubai.
His winning picture captures the fluid movement of a tanoura dancer at Global Village, Dubai. He said: ‘Tanoura dancers wearing tunics with multicoloured LED lights have become one of my all-time favourite subjects. The camera on a tripod, combined with a sufficiently low shutter speed, not only produces the mesmerising light trails, every picture has the potential to convey a different emotion depending on the hue and shape of the light trails.’
His photograph received 17 retweets and 16 likes on twitter.
THIRD PLACE
She took this striking photograph in New York, US, and said: ‘After some rainfall, I came across this scene in our garden. In this shot, I captured the droplets of water trapped in a spider’s web, as well as the bud of a New Guinea Impatiens flower emerging in the middle of the web.’
Her photograph garnered 11 retweets and 15 likes on twitter.
