This article discusses a Live ND creative motion test that I did earlier today and shares some corresponding images. Most of us who have cameras that have the Live ND feature typically use it to create ‘smooth water’ images of waterfalls and streams.

There are many other subjects where Live ND can be used to create some interesting creative motion effects. The images in this article were created at the miniature train display at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington Ontario.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

Using Live ND to photograph waterfalls and other types of moving water is a fairly simple task. All of the elements for the photograph are right in front of us, so all we have to do is compose our image, set the Live ND level, and determine how we are going to get our desired shutter speed.

When we are attempting to use Live ND with a subject like a moving miniature train our shutter release timing becomes critical as we are waiting for our subject to come to us. When we compare the first two Live ND creative motion test images in this article we can see that the slower shutter speed used in the second image created a much smoother blur of the miniature train.

We need to be able to visualize how we want our Live ND creative motion blur to look in our composition. This directly impacts the timing of our shutter release. In the image above, my intention was to have the Live ND creative motion bleed off the right hand edge of the composition. To accomplish this I waited until the train had almost reached that side of the composition before I fully depressed my shutter release.

There were a number of miniature trains on various tracks, so I spent some time watching them to identify decent shooting angles. It didn’t take long to determine that the shortest trains that lacked a lot of colour did not make very good photographic subjects for my Live ND creative motion test.

I captured a few vertical photographs, but found that I liked horizontal compositions better with this subject matter. When using slow shutter speeds over one second it is important to be mindful of one’s handheld technique.

Since I could not focus directly on the miniature trains as they approached, I preselected other focusing points that were adjacent to the train track to help ensure that the foliage and other elements were in good focus. I would half depress my shutter release and wait for the train to reach a specific point before fully depressing my shutter release.

Depending on the focal length used and the shooting angle, this was a bit tricky at times. I ended up switching from my M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 f/2.8 to my M.Zuiko PRO 12-100 f/4 IS so I could get deeper depth-of-field by using shorter focal lengths.

This Live ND creative motion test was a very enjoyable and stimulating exercise. As I was photographing the miniature trains I contemplated how I would capture other subjects with this technology. A number of opportunities like like aircraft, speedboats, birds taking flight, cars, motorcycles, and athletes playing their chosen sport were some of the other potential subjects that quickly came to mind. No doubt there are many others.

This Live ND creative motion test was yet another reason why I love my Olympus gear, and specifically my E-M1X camera bodies. After more than four and a half years of intensive use I’m still exploring creative options and pushing my envelope with the wonderful technology in this equipment.

 Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using Live ND technology. This is the 1,342 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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