Well, I had been taking photos much closer to the carousel, then walked away to head back to the Metro to go home. I turned and noticed the EXIT sign, which I though would make a nice design element juxtaposed with the carousel. I got up close, zooming my zoom lens to its widest setting (equivalent to 28mm on 35mm film.) and jockeyed myself such that the sign angled upwards and the carousel tent angled a bit downward.
It was still quite sunny, so I set the camera's ISO setting to 100, so I could get fairly slow shutter speeds. I tooks several at 1/8 sec and several at 1/4 and 1/2 second. The 1/8 sec exposures seemed to have the right amount of blur, i.e., you could still make out the horses, but the longer exposures were *too* blurry for my taste. I didn't have a tripod, so I just braced myself as best as possible, took several shots, and hoped for the best. One shot at 1/8 sec came out with an acceptable level of camera shake, and her it is .. some planning, but a lot of luck!
Thanks for your kind comments. As to the distortion in the gate -- good point! I think it would be worthwhile for me to try to eliminate it in PS. I'll post a revised version soon.
Hi Steve, Creative shot, and a very well balanced composition. The motion blur adds a good dynamic touch, with the Exit sign as the finishing touch. I feel a bit ambiguous about the wide angle distortion/perspective in the gate. Left it deliberately?
0 
{K:4551} 7/25/2004
