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 achieve this effect in a usual scene using slow shutter speeds. 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
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:
Eric
August 24th, 2008 2:09 pmNice post, very inspirational!
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 9:55 amyou fuckin neematoad, your lucky i dont send u back to the stone ages, I oughta break your back and shove a sharp, microwave oven up your tight ass, ima loosen you up nigga
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 9:57 ambitch titty fuck dat ass!
Designwar.net
August 24th, 2008 2:15 pmYep, boy with tands and dog are very expressive.
Erik Reagan
August 24th, 2008 2:16 pmVery nice collection! I particularly like the rocket launch and the ones involving traffic.
Tom Sinclair
August 24th, 2008 2:18 pmVery nice post, love the rocket launch one
motionblur
August 24th, 2008 2:18 pmSome excellent photos…..especially Ghost Train and Bisecting the Moonrise.
- motionblur. ;)
Coco
August 24th, 2008 2:19 pmyay, nice one
Eating Design
August 24th, 2008 2:21 pmExcellent collection :D
Mali
Ian
August 24th, 2008 2:24 pmMotion blurs are a great effect, especially in live music photography.
some examples of motion blurs in some photos i’ve taken.
1
2
3
4
- Ian, Vanity Design Studios.
Mostly Lisa
August 24th, 2008 3:40 pmjust what i needed on a rainy sunday. thanks!
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 9:58 ammake sense or sense will spill your guts all over my floor… or carpet!
BITCH!
emil
August 24th, 2008 7:05 pmnice post !
shows you how much can really be done by using motion blur… keep up the great articles !!
peteindie
August 24th, 2008 7:23 pm45 Bellisimi Effetti Motion Blur
peteindie
August 24th, 2008 7:25 pmsorry i have write bad the code :-)
blahhhhhh
May 9th, 2010 5:15 pmokay
Manu
August 24th, 2008 7:45 pmGood post
Some of them are really inspirational,
hmm… I dint see any motion blur in the last one
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 9:59 amquit your bitchin
Greg
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 ;
http://www.callybeart.com/gallery_133895.html
Gene
August 24th, 2008 8:50 pmThe last one is depth of field, not motion blur.
Jeff
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.
Cassius
August 24th, 2008 9:13 pmNice… hows about a posting about Government web design standards? Lot of people would love something on that.
emfajar
August 24th, 2008 9:27 pmbeautiful,, very immpresive..
gaurav_m
August 24th, 2008 9:52 pmlovely :)
bee
August 24th, 2008 10:26 pmA great list and some beautiful and creative photos. Thanks!
123
August 24th, 2008 10:50 pmokokokok
roxfaerie
August 24th, 2008 11:14 pmbeautiful…i like the one involves water and light effects…
n8worxx
August 24th, 2008 11:26 pmthats awsome…. good work!
David Perel
August 24th, 2008 11:48 pmUnbelievable collection!
Link
Manuel
August 25th, 2008 12:20 amImpressive pictures. Nice!
Gonzague
August 25th, 2008 12:20 aminsane :-) I love them !
Herzeleyd
August 25th, 2008 12:28 amFantastic photos!!!!
Foto Aprendiz. Fotografía Digital.
jago mabok
August 25th, 2008 12:44 amawesome collection
Justin (www.DotNetMushroom.com)
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 !
DotNetMushroom.com
Eddy munn
August 25th, 2008 2:23 amThat dog is hilarious. :D
Gomi
August 25th, 2008 2:37 amMost of the photos aren’t technically “motion blur” but time-lapse captures. Two different things.
Anish Trehan
August 25th, 2008 2:47 amGr8 Collection of pics really inspiring!!
Munchbrother
August 25th, 2008 3:02 amSuch amazing and varied subjects this is one of the best collections I have seen in a while.
Reccomended
Jonathan
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’.
Budding
June 6th, 2010 7:41 pmDo you happend to know the three methods to control motion in an image? How they work? And why I would use these in various areas of photography ?
Cosmi
August 25th, 2008 3:15 amGood Work. Reuters is the best
DC
August 25th, 2008 4:41 amI can feel the smashing,
Yizi
August 25th, 2008 4:53 amAmazing motions, would been great if it was in a large size! it wont fit my 24″ iMac screen.
Ray
August 25th, 2008 5:23 amway cool!
Quakeulf
August 25th, 2008 6:48 amI loved the rocket one. =3
D
August 25th, 2008 7:40 amPretty weak post.
Jason R.
August 25th, 2008 7:53 amThat swing ride picture reminds me of the cover of DMB – “Under the Table and Dreaming”
DMB CD Cover
Edward
August 25th, 2008 9:11 ambeautiful pictures! yea the dog’s awesome
Elias
August 25th, 2008 9:12 amNice article. Good way to start a Monday.
VernonLaz
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 :)
suBi
August 25th, 2008 2:48 pmwow!
Fabryz
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. :)
stone-faced
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!
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 10:00 amawesome bro really cool your tight real awesome sexy and possibly horny
PureDezigner
August 25th, 2008 6:43 pmreminds me of slow motion cameras
swede
August 26th, 2008 2:31 amI loved the one with the rocks!
/Swede
Shareordie
August 26th, 2008 3:31 amThanks SmashingMagazine … I m glad that my website is been a part of SM Content !
Andreas
August 26th, 2008 6:05 amWirklich tolle Bilder mit Langzeitbelichtung.
Grüße
Andreas
lemonzi
August 26th, 2008 8:15 amwow… amazing
Cdog
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
David
August 26th, 2008 4:18 pmQuite a load of awesome.
lala
August 26th, 2008 6:07 pm漂亮！
Nacene en Chine
August 27th, 2008 12:31 amsplendide !!
Nacene en Chine
shalvius
August 27th, 2008 12:36 amthanks!
Pat
August 27th, 2008 4:52 amepic
Judy hennen
August 27th, 2008 6:16 amReally enjoyed them. Awesome.
Shinden
August 27th, 2008 7:32 amone word “COOL”
i really liked the picture of the dog and cityscapes
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 10:01 amone word “faggot”
Shinden
August 27th, 2008 7:33 amcool pics
i really liked the picture of the dog and cityscape
Dan
August 27th, 2008 9:50 amWow! A lot of these pictures are Really incredible!!
Allan
August 27th, 2008 1:22 pmnone are as good as my humanoid ghostbat: http://missionmission.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/humanoid-ghostbat-sighted/
Genger
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.
Make Design, Not War
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
Yahor Shumski
August 28th, 2008 2:06 pmThere is no motion blur on 13th photo
lycyr
August 28th, 2008 3:45 pmHe`s got madskills, what software did he use and camera ?
Breathtakingphotos.....Sean Gloster
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
kamlesh khatri
August 29th, 2008 2:29 amI really enjoy this collection, anybody can post some other categories which has excellent collection.
Hussein Makki
August 29th, 2008 5:29 amthats gr8 !!
i really liked them !!
HUGONE
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
http://photouptodate.blogspot.com/
August 30th, 2008 3:22 pmVery impressive! Thank you for sharing!
Pramathesh Borkotoky
August 31st, 2008 3:55 amSimply Wow
Andrea Baroni
September 1st, 2008 10:50 amInspiring collection indeed. Great works!
Can I humbly link some shots of mine? :)
lightStreams
Vic
September 2nd, 2008 8:50 amNice sets of collections, if it is ok with you can I link my photoblog? PinoyClicks
Lars Lentz
September 3rd, 2008 7:58 amExcellent post. Excellent magazine. Please please please never go away. Thanks.
adfvbeaaaaaas
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.
ryan
September 9th, 2008 7:55 amreally re its a proven fact tat ure genious……………………………..
ryoeos
September 9th, 2008 8:39 pm( O.o)y-~~To much good photographers. I’m jalous!
Martin
September 11th, 2008 12:38 pmIm working on it :)
Mike
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.
projectgrfix
September 17th, 2008 2:36 amReally amazing!
max
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
Steve
October 4th, 2008 12:20 pmVery cool site, my site.
kabir
October 8th, 2008 2:23 ampls send buautiful phos & links
Peta
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?
Steve In Denver Colorado USA
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.
reem
October 12th, 2008 10:17 pmamazing
IPAH
October 24th, 2008 3:01 aminteresting picture it very niceeeeeeeeee…
sam
November 11th, 2008 9:29 pmnice
ayahya
November 15th, 2008 5:51 amvery-very prestigious, thanks
Mr Din
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
manraj
November 17th, 2008 7:25 pmvery very good stuff, this.
Peter G
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?
Zozo Calypso
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.
Srini
November 18th, 2008 4:27 pmNice Posting on Motion Blur . !!!
Crafty Cript
October 7th, 2011 10:04 amyour a sexy mudda fuck sweetie ;D
I live in Paradise if you wanna do me ;)
rose
November 23rd, 2008 8:03 amso cool these pics r so cute :)
like me
lol
sreejack
November 27th, 2008 9:05 pmwonderful images..I like..
GIna
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?
Sharath
December 9th, 2008 4:24 amExtraordinary