Special Effects

One of the reasons I originally decided to sign up for photography courses was because I loved looking at photos of light streaks, fireworks and the way things looked at night.  I was drawn to night images, yet had no success taking them.  While learning how to take those kind  of photos, I also learned about some special effects shots that can also be taken once the sun goes down.  The image above was actually a hanging decoration at a local Cancer Walk.  I was using my trusty Canon 30D with a Canon 24-70mm lens at 70mm, ISO 100, f/7.1 with an exposure time of 6 seconds.  However, in order to achieve the light streaks you see while the picture was being taken, I was playing with the zoom ring to zoom in and out of the image.  As a result, the camera captures the light as you zoom in and out of the object being photographed.  Kind of like the when you capture streaks of light of cars going by, but in this case, you are creating the streaks of light while with your lens, rather than just capturing them.  It's a cool little trick that can be used to change something you would think to be rather ordinary into a totally original photograph.