Out of the Ashes

[PDobson]

I visited the aftermath of a recent forest fire yesterday evening. I'd never been to a burn so soon after the flames died (a couple of weeks). It's an eerie setting: everything is dead still and every footstep kicks up a little plume of ash.

Some things really caught my eye when first viewing the scene. Most of the trees were turned charcoal-black, but some where white with ash, a great contrast. The hill in the background had escaped the worst of the flames and the needles were still hanging on the branches, scorched to a bright orange that really picked up the evening light.

The strong vertical elements of the scene led me to try camera-blurring a few photos. I'm new to this technique, but I'm happy with how it worked out in this case.

Mile-19 Fire   -   Butte, Montana
Canon 20D with 70-200 F4L

Phillip

[Walt Roycraft]

I think the camera blur works well. I love it.

[fike]

Without camera blur...nice photo

With camera blur...fantastic interpretive photo

[PDobson]

Those were my thoughts as well. The vertical blur emphasizes the shape of the trunks while downplaying distracting horizontal elements. The end result is a scene distilled down to its essence.

On a technical note, this is a great technique to keep in mind when the light starts to fade and you have no way of stabilizing the camera. I found that the best results came from panning quickly over a relatively long arc and timing the shutter when the scene gets in frame. This resulted in a smoother, more controlled blur.

Phillip