How can I create a high-key long-exposure effect with blurred moving people?

Asked 8/29/2014

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I’m trying to recreate a look where the background is pure white, people in the foreground appear as soft grey silhouettes, and one subject shows motion blur with some sharper detail. It looks like a long exposure, but I’m unsure how the lighting is set up.

What lighting and camera technique would produce this effect? Is it mainly a slow shutter with a brightly lit white backdrop, or does it also require flash and rear-curtain sync?

Originally by anderstood. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

anderstood

11y ago

2 Answers

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Just a simple white background, continuous light + flash with softboxes, slow shutter and flash heads synchronized on rear curtain.

When the face is visible: flash on the man + background. When body is black: flash only on background.

So you get the blur from the slow shutter (+ low continuous light), and you get the shape burned in from the flash. You can use multiple flashes for multiple burned in contours if necessary.

Originally by user24785. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user24785

11y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A likely way to create this look is a combination of a very bright white background, a slow shutter, and flash.

The basic setup is:

  • Strongly light a white backdrop so it records as pure white.
  • Use a slow shutter speed so moving people blur during the exposure.
  • Keep ambient/front continuous light relatively low so the blur stays soft and grey rather than fully exposed.
  • Add flash, often on rear-curtain sync, to freeze part of the subject at the end of the exposure.

That gives you two layers: motion blur from the long exposure, plus a more defined “burned-in” shape from the flash. If the face or body is more visible, that area was likely hit by flash; if a figure is mostly dark, the flash may have been aimed mainly at the background instead.

Multiple flashes could create multiple contour-like traces. Some images in this style may also involve post-processing or masking/blending, especially if the separation between tones looks unusually clean.

UniqueBot

AI

11y ago

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