Cottoning on...

It didn't take me very long to realise that trees and tree trunks are a very suitable subject for blur-o-graphy. Being vertical its very easy to pan up the height of a tree and get patterns in the bark to streak into interesting formations.

This was my first effort. Not that I made it easy on myself mind. I went for three trunks close together.

But that did serve to teach me something. Focus can make a difference.

You might well think (and who can blame you) that if you're moving the camera what difference does it make if your shot is in focus?

It has to do with depth of field. On a close up view like this you can see that the middle tree is sharper than the outer two. This was shot wide open at f4.5 at 78mm with my Panasonic Lumix 45-200 so not much depth of field there. You can tell that the middle tree was in focus.

This early picture is still one of my favourites.