Zoom, Zoom
Creating a Sense of Motion - In Camera

By Joe Farace

Zooming after the Fact. One of the other reasons for using any zooming technique—digital or in-camera—with cars is that it helps eliminate the clutter and background found at many indoor shows. This image was made using a Canon EOS 10D, 17-35mm EF zoom, but the zoom effect was added later in Adobe Photoshop using techniques shown in a previous lesson, “Creating Motion with Still Images.”	In-Camera Zoom. Within seconds of making that first image of a Mazda 5, I stopped my lens down to it’s smallest aperture, set the Canon EOS 10D to Aperture Priority (AV) model and zoomed during exposure using the techniques described later in this lesson.

All of us on the Adorama Academy faculty like to hear from our readers and I’m always willing to share lessons I’ve learned at that most august photographic institution of higher learning, “The School of Hard Knocks.” My lesson on creating motion using computer software, for example, prompted this question from a student: “Recently in an article on Adorama, you explained how to ‘zoom during exposure’ digitally, but stated that it can be done with a zoom lens on film. I am curious as to how this would be done, as it is an effect I would like to learn without going digital. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.”

Well, Matt. You can use this technique with any film or digital camera that has a zoom lens and adjustable camera settings, especially shutter speeds. To start with you need a lens that lets you vary its focal length during exposure. It can be a push-pull zoom, that lets you change focal lengths by moving the focusing ring forward and back, or a two-touch zoom with separate rings for adjusting focus and focal length, which is the case with most contemporary zoom lenses. Heck you can even use a Vari-Focal lens (that doesn’t retain focus when focal length is changed) because chances are there isn’t going to be too much sharp in the final image anyway.

Next, pick a subject and make your exposure reading, but select the smallest aperture in order to produce a slow shutter speed. The slower the better, and if you want some things in the final image to be sharp, use a tripod. Depending on your film’s ISO rating, you may need an ND filter to cut down on the amount of light hitting the film so it produces the slowest possible shutter speed.Now grab hold of the zoom control and slowly start to move it. Immediately after you start moving it, trip the shutter and keep zooming after the shutter is closed so the overall effect is smooth. There really are no rules. If you zoom in from the longest focal length to the shortest the effect will be different than if you zoom out from the shortest to the longest Most of the images in this story were made using the latter method. (I don’t know why.) Because results are always unpredictable, you should practice this technique, and experiment.

You can do it with a digital camera too, as I did with the photograph of the yellow Toyota Celica that was made without a tripod because they are not allowed at this venue. These in-camera zoom effects were made using a 17-35mm Canon EF lens on a Canon EOS 10D, but the wider the zoom range the greater the zoom effect can be. This is a straight shot just as it came off the memory card. Wanna get tricky? Since you'll be working at small apertures, if your camera and flash has a second-shutter sync mode, pop a little flash at the end of the exposure. The possibilities are endless.

	I picked this car because it was sitting in the darkest part of the exhibit hall, but it turns out that some ambient light is useful in adding color to the streaks. Also the 17-35 EF Zoom was a more limited range than some others when it comes to creating zoom effects.
Get Close! When the background clutter gets really bad get in close like I did with this shot of a Toyota Celica using a Canon EOS 10D and 17-35mm EF zoom. This is the final image as it came off the CompactFlash card with no Photoshop enhancements or tweaking.

Like any good student who graduates from The Academy, Matt wrote back after I told him my thoughts. “Thanks for the tips. I used the technique to get some shots of an Anniversary Edition Harley, and was pleased with the results. The effect was not as dramatic as your Mazda photo, but I think it’s because I only have an ND2 filter when I should have used an ND4 and I couldn't get as long an exposure (using a 70-200mm zoom). Thank you for the info, and taking the time to help out us amateurs—it is appreciated!” Like any teacher, it’s always gratifying to hear from students.

All photographs ©2003 Joe Farace