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45 Beautiful Motion Blur Photos
Photos taken with a camera do not represent a single moment of time. Due to technological constraints these shots stand for some scene over a brief period of time. This time frame depends on the camera’s shutter speed. In motion blur, any object moving with respect to the camera will look blurred or smeared along the direction of relative motion.
Motion blur is frequently used to show a sense of speed. You can artificially achieve this effect in a usual scene using cameras with a slow shutter speed. Also Adobe Photoshop can be used for this purpose, though sometimes images may look unnatural and unprofessional. You may want to take a look at resources provided in the end of the article — they show how one can add the motion blur effect in photos.
This article presents 45 beautiful examples of motion blur in photography. This showcase isn’t supposed to be the ultimate and complete selection of motion blur images — it is supposed to provide you with some inspiration of what can be done with motion blur. All pictures are linked to the author’s pages. You may want to explore further works of the photographers we’ve featured below.
Related posts:
- Beautiful Black and White Photography
- 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
- (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos
- Let There Be Light: Light Painting and Sculptures
[Offtopic: by the way, do you know the Smashing Network has its own Smashing Network RSS Feed? Only excerpts are displayed in the feed.]
Beauty of Motion Blur
Last Click
The picture presented below is not motion blur, yet it somehow fits to the post. The picture is titled “Meaning of Life”.
Further Resources
Area for further articles and related resources.
- How to create a fast car in Adobe Photoshop using Motion Blur
- How to Capture Motion Blur in Photography
The natural way to create motion blur using cameras - How to create Motion Blur
An Adobe Photoshop tutorial. - Top Best 55 Photoshop Tutorials For Professional Photographers
- Adobe Photoshop Tutorials – Best Of
- 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
- How to Capture Motion Blur in Photography
- Glow Flickr Pool
- Blurred Flickr Pool
- Motion Blur Flickr Pool
Related articles
You may also want to take a look at the related articles which we have published earlier:
Vailancio Rodrigues, born and currently living in scenic beauty of Goa, spent most of his childhood in art and creativity. At present a College student who likes to try and do different things at every moment. Also an webmaster and web designer – Tiny Goa and Pixel Art.
- 133 Comments
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August 24th, 2008 2:15 pmYep, boy with tands and dog are very expressive.
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August 24th, 2008 2:16 pmVery nice collection! I particularly like the rocket launch and the ones involving traffic.
- 4
August 24th, 2008 2:18 pmVery nice post, love the rocket launch one
- 5
August 24th, 2008 2:18 pmSome excellent photos…..especially Ghost Train and Bisecting the Moonrise.
- motionblur. ;)
- 6
August 24th, 2008 2:19 pmyay, nice one
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August 24th, 2008 2:21 pmExcellent collection :D
Mali - 8
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August 24th, 2008 3:40 pmjust what i needed on a rainy sunday. thanks!
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August 24th, 2008 7:05 pmnice post !
shows you how much can really be done by using motion blur… keep up the great articles !!
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August 24th, 2008 7:25 pmsorry i have write bad the code :-)
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August 24th, 2008 7:45 pmGood post
Some of them are really inspirational,hmm… I dint see any motion blur in the last one
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August 24th, 2008 8:32 pmDidn’t really see anything here up to the usual Smashing mag standard. This is all very predictable stuff. Found this Photographer tho who sems to really get motion blur ;
- 15
August 24th, 2008 8:50 pmThe last one is depth of field, not motion blur.
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August 24th, 2008 8:56 pmhonestly, i did expect to be impressed or even moved by the pictures….but wow…these are just brilliant…much respect to the original artists…and of course you for sharing this great find.
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August 24th, 2008 9:13 pmNice… hows about a posting about Government web design standards? Lot of people would love something on that.
- 18
August 24th, 2008 9:27 pmbeautiful,, very immpresive..
- 19
August 24th, 2008 9:33 pmThe guy on the dirt bike photo was lame. Looks like a 14 year old went to town with Photoshop.
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August 24th, 2008 9:44 pmNo motion blur to speak of on the shark image.
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August 24th, 2008 9:52 pmlovely :)
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August 24th, 2008 10:26 pmA great list and some beautiful and creative photos. Thanks!
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August 24th, 2008 10:39 pm@Brian: “The guy on the dirt bike photo was lame. Looks like a 14 year old went to town with Photoshop.”
-That effect is achieved by manually zooming the lens while taking a lengthy exposure; the technique has been around long before Photoshop. Sorry the 14 year olds ruined it for you.
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August 24th, 2008 10:50 pmokokokok
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August 24th, 2008 11:04 pm@jack: “-That effect is achieved by manually zooming the lens while taking a lengthy exposure; the technique has been around long before Photoshop. Sorry the 14 year olds ruined it for you.”
I’d say the rather hard line between blurry/non-blurry parts of the image, combined with the fact that the clear portion is oval-shaped, is a good indicator of the shot’s shoppedness. Verdict: Brian wins.
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August 24th, 2008 11:14 pmbeautiful…i like the one involves water and light effects…
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August 24th, 2008 11:26 pmthats awsome…. good work!
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August 25th, 2008 12:20 amImpressive pictures. Nice!
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August 25th, 2008 12:20 aminsane :-) I love them !
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August 25th, 2008 12:44 amawesome collection
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August 25th, 2008 1:04 amSimply Impressive ! Normally I comment on a particular thing that I like / don’t like but this time I am literally stuck for words. The only words that come to mind are : amazing, wonderful, brilliant ! A truly inspirational post indeed !
- 34
August 25th, 2008 2:23 amThat dog is hilarious. :D
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August 25th, 2008 2:37 amMost of the photos aren’t technically “motion blur” but time-lapse captures. Two different things.
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August 25th, 2008 2:47 amGr8 Collection of pics really inspiring!!
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August 25th, 2008 3:02 amSuch amazing and varied subjects this is one of the best collections I have seen in a while.
Reccomended
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August 25th, 2008 3:06 amGomi – Time-lapse photography is when many pictures of a scene are taken at regular intervals, usually over an extended period of time. Think pictures of a plant growing, and the shots composited into a movie showing the plant’s growth over several days/weeks.
But some of the material here is low quality/irrelevant/photoshopped – the author of the post has opted for quantity over quality.
The picture of the shark and fish has no motion blur, and the motorbike & gun photos look very photoshopped.
All but about 3 of the photos are from flickr – must have been such hard work to go to flickr and search for “motion blur”. Sorry, but this is a very low quality & lazy ‘article’.
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August 25th, 2008 3:15 amGood Work. Reuters is the best
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August 25th, 2008 3:29 amWow! The one with the kid being spun around is an waward winner for sure! Beautiful.
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August 25th, 2008 4:41 amI can feel the smashing,
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August 25th, 2008 4:53 amAmazing motions, would been great if it was in a large size! it wont fit my 24″ iMac screen.
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August 25th, 2008 5:23 amway cool!
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August 25th, 2008 6:48 amI loved the rocket one. =3
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August 25th, 2008 7:40 amPretty weak post.
- 46
August 25th, 2008 7:53 amThat swing ride picture reminds me of the cover of DMB – “Under the Table and Dreaming”
DMB CD Cover - 47
August 25th, 2008 9:11 ambeautiful pictures! yea the dog’s awesome
- 48
August 25th, 2008 9:12 amNice article. Good way to start a Monday.
- 49
August 25th, 2008 9:39 amMany of these photographs are copyrighted and do not allow you to reproduce them here, particularly when SM is heavily pushing advertising and generating revenue from this type of content. Unless SM is rewarding the artists who spent time creating these works…which I’m sure it’s not.
Eye candy is money, you’re all hooked on eye candy, SM is filling its pockets thanks to you :)
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August 25th, 2008 2:48 pmwow!
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August 25th, 2008 4:21 pmAww really nice!
I’d buy a photocamera only to go around and play with these amazing effects… If only i weren’t so lazy. :) - 52
August 25th, 2008 4:49 pmI should put up a pic of what a dog’s eye looks like after it’s been hit with a pebble at 50mph. Gross and badbadbad.
One word- Doggles!
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August 25th, 2008 6:43 pmreminds me of slow motion cameras
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August 25th, 2008 8:36 pm“http://media.smashingmagazine.com/cdn_smash/images/motion-blur/Blurred%20vision.jpg”
No motionblur.
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August 25th, 2008 10:29 pm@ Jason R.
It IS the swing ride pictured on the cover of DMB’s CD.uh..oh crap. Now the song Ants Marching just got lodged in my head. Great..
Nice post. That crazy photo above the first guy on the bike is rock. It’s just abstract enough to be right up my alley.
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August 26th, 2008 2:31 amI loved the one with the rocks!
/Swede
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August 26th, 2008 3:31 amThanks SmashingMagazine … I m glad that my website is been a part of SM Content !
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August 26th, 2008 6:05 amWirklich tolle Bilder mit Langzeitbelichtung.
Grüße
Andreas - 59
August 26th, 2008 8:15 amwow… amazing
- 60
August 26th, 2008 10:12 amre motorcycle pic: interesting how you can see the knobs on the tires but the back ground is blurred – that would have to be one very fast zoom to blur the background and capture the tire.
Agreed: photoshop
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August 26th, 2008 6:07 pm漂亮!
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August 27th, 2008 12:36 amthanks!
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August 27th, 2008 4:52 amepic
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August 27th, 2008 6:16 amReally enjoyed them. Awesome.
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August 27th, 2008 7:32 amone word “COOL”
i really liked the picture of the dog and cityscapes
- 68
August 27th, 2008 7:33 amcool pics
i really liked the picture of the dog and cityscape
- 69
August 27th, 2008 9:50 amWow! A lot of these pictures are Really incredible!!
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August 27th, 2008 11:01 amAs the copyright owner of the third picture in your collection, I would have appreciated your asking permission to use it and an attribution to it and these other photographs as to them being the property (and used by permission of) the various photographers AND NOT works of the authors of this article.
Please REMOVE my picture from this collection as you DO NOT have my permission to use it.
Thank you!
Rick Post
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August 27th, 2008 1:22 pmnone are as good as my humanoid ghostbat: http://missionmission.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/humanoid-ghostbat-sighted/
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August 27th, 2008 2:29 pmIf your looking for a good photography tutorial or photography training site, http://www.hobopublishing.com is a really good one. They offer training on portraits, nudes, weddings, and alot more. They also have some stuff on lighting setups and posing guides. Check em’ out. The programs they have are real easy to use and very interactive. Hope that helps some.
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August 28th, 2008 10:25 amnice! reminds me of this shot I took a while back with my younger brother and a beer bottle Breath of Fire. Thanks for sharing this set. Inspirational as always :)MakeDesign,NotWar
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August 28th, 2008 2:06 pmThere is no motion blur on 13th photo
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August 28th, 2008 3:45 pmHe`s got madskills, what software did he use and camera ?
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August 28th, 2008 8:33 pmI enjoy the photos. I do agree with one photographer that you should ask before using OUR photos. I only found out because the “Meaning of Life” spiked in views. That being said. Thanks. And Wow! There are some nasty people in this world. Makes me at times want to be surrounded by barbwire to protect me from them. Breathtakingphotos…..Sean Gloster
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August 29th, 2008 2:29 amI really enjoy this collection, anybody can post some other categories which has excellent collection.
- 78
August 29th, 2008 5:29 amthats gr8 !!
i really liked them !!
- 79
August 30th, 2008 4:28 amGreat work, except the ones ‘photoshoped’ pic, THE MOTORBIKE.
Filters > Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom
—————————————————————
Gran trabajo, a excepción de la foto ‘photoshopeada’, LA MOTO.
Filtros > Desenfoque > Radial > Zoom - 80
August 30th, 2008 3:22 pmVery impressive! Thank you for sharing!
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August 31st, 2008 3:55 amSimply Wow
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September 1st, 2008 10:50 amInspiring collection indeed. Great works!
Can I humbly link some shots of mine? :)
lightStreams - 83
September 2nd, 2008 8:50 amNice sets of collections, if it is ok with you can I link my photoblog? PinoyClicks
- 84
September 3rd, 2008 7:58 amExcellent post. Excellent magazine. Please please please never go away. Thanks.
- 85
September 5th, 2008 6:46 pmwft?!
how teh fack, did that guy take the picture holding on to that kid WHEN
he was holding on to it with two hands?i say third hand-itus.
- 86
September 9th, 2008 7:55 amreally re its a proven fact tat ure genious……………………………..
- 87
September 9th, 2008 8:39 pm( O.o)y-~~To much good photographers. I’m jalous!
- 88
September 11th, 2008 12:38 pmIm working on it :)
- 89
September 16th, 2008 6:59 pmWhile I appreciate that one of my photos was blogged here; however, many of those photos above picked from various Flickr photostreams are copyright photos. For those copyright photos, I do agree that the editor(s) should have the courtesy to ask the original photographer(s) for permission before republishing their content else where. I was never asked, but if I was, I would have said yes. It’s just common courtesy.
- 90
September 17th, 2008 2:36 amReally amazing!
- 91
September 25th, 2008 7:17 amsmashingmagazine you are the best.
i send this page to more than 1000 people.
thanks.
and this is my site: Beautiful Pictures - 92

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October 8th, 2008 2:23 ampls send buautiful phos & links
- 94
October 8th, 2008 10:41 pmCan somebody kindly explain to me how the mud slide picture was taken? Is this panning? How do I create such an effect?
- 95
October 11th, 2008 5:09 pmHi, wow!
I love these shots. I want to learn how to take that sort of thing with my new camera. Thanks for posting these photos. - 96
October 12th, 2008 10:17 pmamazing
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October 24th, 2008 3:01 aminteresting picture it very niceeeeeeeeee…
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November 11th, 2008 9:29 pmnice
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November 15th, 2008 5:51 amvery-very prestigious, thanks
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November 17th, 2008 9:07 amnice selection of photos!!! I am very excited to go out and play a bit with my camera now!! :D
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November 17th, 2008 7:25 pmvery very good stuff, this.
- 102
November 18th, 2008 12:30 amI have to agree that there are a few obviously PS’d images. The Motorbike image is a classic beginner PS attempt. The zoom lines lead into the helmet and all into the bike period. A zoomed exposure (in or out) would not look like this when the bike is moving at the rate it is.
How would you get the shutter speed to be so long in the light conditions and zoom for that length effect? I also completely agree with others regarding usage. Please ask permission.
Lastly on a light note: Where do you draw the line on shutter speed when you call it Motion Blur or Timed Exposure? Responses? - 103
November 18th, 2008 4:30 amRegarding use of Rick Post’s (aka CapturedLight on Flickr) image. Technically SM hasn’t seemed to have copied your image, merely embedded a link to your publicly displayed image.
It’s a great image and I understand your disappointment, but if you don’t want to risk others exploiting your prized images, you shouldn’t have them on Flickr in the first place.
Rather, a Flash based online gallery is your safest bet.
On the other hand, you are receiving kudos just by your image being here, so maybe that’s not a bad trade off.
I came to this link via a newsletter from http://www.photojojo.com, which a has a pretty huge following, so expect more clicks coming your way. Good Luck.
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November 18th, 2008 4:27 pmNice Posting on Motion Blur . !!!
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November 23rd, 2008 8:03 amso cool these pics r so cute :)
like me
lol - 106
November 27th, 2008 9:05 pmwonderful images..I like..
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December 3rd, 2008 4:37 pmwow this pictures are amazing!
would you mind making a little time and maybe telling the names of the people who toke those motion blurs? - 108
December 9th, 2008 4:24 amExtraordinary
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December 12th, 2008 8:48 amIncredible… yea, I don’t see any motion blur on the last one. I’m a rookie photographer and I can’t wait til I manage to know how to do those things.
Great Job!
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January 4th, 2009 10:47 amEs increible lo que se puede lograr con una camara fotografica, (bueno no solo con la camara) tambien con la creatividad. Exelente muy inspiradoras
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January 12th, 2009 12:21 amAwsome selection!
- 113
January 12th, 2009 5:51 amAmazing Homi u got my Heart
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January 13th, 2009 6:49 amNice! I’ve played around with blur photo myself…a little less representational than most of what is here.
Blurstrations:
http://www.photo-genesis.net/gallery.php?galleryid=9155 - 115
January 14th, 2009 5:34 amholy crap!
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January 16th, 2009 2:36 amwow………totally beautiful………..
- 117
January 23rd, 2009 9:24 pmFantastic images!!!!!!!! cool effects !!!!!!!!!! inspirational
- 118
February 5th, 2009 5:58 pmI really falled in love with your fhotos!!!
Congratulations.
Saludos desde México. - 119
February 22nd, 2009 5:14 pmASSCLOWN
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February 24th, 2009 9:43 pmCool
Willy Yanto Wijaya
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March 8th, 2009 8:20 amThese scenes are very much inspired me .
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April 7th, 2009 8:54 pmwow nice pics
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April 17th, 2009 11:09 ami like blur…
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April 19th, 2009 7:39 pmwow!……what a wonderful amazing pictures!
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April 21st, 2009 2:01 amLove the dice. Awesome shot
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April 30th, 2009 12:25 pmvery nice ;;;;;cool effect ;;; i love the effect of 1st,14st and 16
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May 12th, 2009 6:57 amthese all suck nastay bawlz.
- 128
July 9th, 2009 5:51 amSome great photos!
but what would be even more useful is to know what cameras were used to take these photos and what settings were used? So that we can actually learn how to take shots like this.
Thanks smashing mag as always. Keep up the good work!
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July 15th, 2009 11:46 amNewbie question: How were these pictures created? Is it a matter of shutter speed?
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August 4th, 2009 11:32 amWhat is shoe’s most important index?Comfortable?Concise?Price?
Nike Air Force 1is fit for
all index!The Neon 95 AF1is Unique.The Low AF1and the Mid AF1 are popular!You can get more informations here:http://www.weblog88.com - 131
August 4th, 2009 1:13 pmthe pics are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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August 15th, 2009 7:28 pmthey where soooooooooo koooool!………………the best best best eva
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October 13th, 2009 10:28 pmnice. i love those ones
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Nice post, very inspirational!