Critique the Community
Motion Blur
Submit Your Best Long Exposure Shots
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Congratulations to the winners!
We would like to thank everyone who participated in last month's "motion blur" critique the community, and especially to those who were featured in the final video. If you are one of the winners from this critique, you can message Lee Morris to claim your prize. Make sure you check out the latest Critique the Community on the Contest Page and we hope to see more incredible images from you all soon!
Rules & Prizes
Welcome to the June Critique the Community! For this contest/critique, we are doing another abstract theme that should allow more photographers to enter. For this month we want to see your best photograph that feature "Motion Blur". If you have images that showcase fast moving subjects, camera shake, long shutter speeds, or anything else that epitomizes motion blur, we would love to see them!
Rules
- Each photographer may submit up to three images.
- This month's contest features a pretty broad theme, therefore any type of photograph is acceptable. However, a major part of the final image must contain or focus on something with motion blur.
- 10 Images will be chosen by Lee and Patrick for the video critique.
- Finally, every image submitted MUST HAVE some written commentary on how the image was created, what gear was used, and some of the challenges you faced when capturing the image. Any photo with a single sentence description will not be included.
Prizes
Top 10 Picks - This month every single image that is featured in the final critique will receive their choice of any Fstoppers photography tutorial found in the Fstoppers Store. Our elaborate and exhaustive photography tutorials not only help photographers immediately start taking professional quality images, but most of our tutorials also share business and marketing techniques that can help make photography a full time income. With genres like Headshots, Landscapes, Architecture and Real Estate, Fashion, Macro, and Product Photography, there is something for every photographer no matter what genre you specialize in. This prize is valued at $299.
Good luck to everyone who enters and we look forward to seeing your best "dark" photographs!
Tue, 06/30/2026 - 22:33
This contest has ended.
149 people have cast a total of 4,095 votes on 314 entries from 170 participants
Contest Submissions
Click on the thumbnails below to comment and rate each image.
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5 Comments
Star trails could be considered motion blur?
I mean, technically speaking, they absolutely are.
Just on a vastly different scale than earthly ones
For sure!!!
So freaking cool to actually see my work on the Fstoppers Youtube channel.
Hello everyone,
I was delighted that my image was among the winners in this competition! Thank you very much. Since a few questions remained unanswered during the video critique, I would like to address them briefly here:
* Regarding the image format: This is a processed JPG. Back in 2013, I wasn't shooting in RAW format yet, simply because I lacked the necessary technical setup (hardware and software) for processing those files at the time. Copy of the unprocessed file enclosed.
* Regarding the location and colors: The photo was taken at the "Festhalle/Messe" subway station in Frankfurt - something that is easily recognizable from the station sign. Frankfurt’s subway trains are painted in that characteristic blue-turquoise color by default, unless they are wrapped in full-body advertising. The station is particularly well-suited for this kind of subject because the walls are a solid, uniform color. I had to wait for several trains to pass before one arrived without distracting advertisements. I’ve attached an example featuring a different train for reference.
* Regarding image processing: The vibrant colors and final look were achieved during post-processing using DxO PhotoLab and DxO FilmPack. I deliberately chose the cinematic "Orange & Teal" film look. In my opinion, it suits the subject perfectly, as it essentially reduces the color palette to more or less two tones. This ensures that extraneous colors don't distract from the image's core message.
I hope this clears things up. Please let me know if you have any further questions!
Best regards,
Norbert Rotsch