One A Day – 361 – Blur Painting

Blur Painting 1

Blur Painting 1 – Juan Carlos Cortes

Blur Painting 2

Blur Painting 2 – Juan Carlos Cortes

Blur Painting 3

Blur Painting 3 – Juan Carlos Cortes

Blur Painting 4

Blur Painting 4 – Juan Carlos Cortes

  • Cactux Blues Fest
  • Cactux
  • Centro Histórico, Morelia, Michoacán, México
  • January 25, 2014
  • Copyright, all rights reserved

This is a series of photos taken at the Cactux Blues Fest that show the range of things that can happen when you play with a slow shutter in low light. The lighting at Cactux is contrasty and has some very strong colors. Because the lights are mounted above and there are no lights in front from the audience point of view, the shadows can become very dark. I purposely limit my camera to ISO 6400 so I am always playing with blur at some level in low light. I like the way that a blur can convey an additional dimension to the image and show the passage of time. The top two photos show this effect to the extent that they become abstract. The bottom two are less so, but still have effects of low light, movement and restricted depth of field common in this type of image. All of the photos, except Number 3, use the color of light available in the original, but they are developed to take the best advantage of the depth that is in the raw form. Number 3 had a strong green cast that I didn’t care for, so I converted it to a blue and yellow duotone.