I regarded Alan's suggestion as good and put it into practice tonight in a women's soccer matchup. I had some limited fashion of success. All images were taken at 1/15 of a second in the second half of the game.
I'm going to alter my typical request and specifically ask for a critical eye. What do you think doesn't work here? I haven't spent much time practicing this, and I would love to hear where you feel they fall short of the entirely subjective bar you have in your mind.
I'm particular when it comes to people as subjects in long exposure images. If I were to summarize the qualities that attract me it would probably be that the subject is moving with the flow of the lines, the subjects have an interesting form to them as they are moving or interacting, and that the setting/background doesn't have much confusion. That being said, among your photos, Matt, I think numbers 2, 4, and 7 achieve these qualities making them feel more like artwork to me. Numbers 1, 3, 5, and 6 are lacking some of these qualities so these feel more like blurry photos.
Thank you for commenting, Jennifer! I think that we have some similar thoughts as to what qualifies these photos. Number two is a particular favorite from the bunch.
I too am drawn to #2 Matthew, the movement blur fully capturing the bodies in motion.
I think many show promise but personally feel they may be hampered by the stark lighting and contrast. Even longer exposures may have worked for some, abstracting the bodies even further and highlighting the faster motion.
You could try playing about with these, here's one quick example just using Windows 11 just as a comparison (I think B&W conversion allows more options).
Good work on these, I hope you feel you achieved something from your efforts and are keen to experiment further.