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When I saw the stunning pictures on the wall of my dentist’s waiting-room, I thought they were abstract paintings. But they were ICM photos which, I discovered, stood for intentional camera movement. It wasn’t long before I was immersed in the ICM photography technique, and was soon practicing ICM landscape photography. Instantly hooked on ICM photography, I delved deeper into the practice so I could create beautiful wall-art.
Unless you are a ‘dyed in the wool’ traditionalist, ICM photography or intentional camera movement when taking pictures, will add another dimension to your world of photography. And what will surprise you, is how easy it is to create beautiful wall art in no time, once you get the hang of it.
Intentional Camera Movement was responsible for this picture
I captured this supernova sunset on a New Year’s eve in Northern Thailand with ICM photography, before I had one drink
Whenever I discover something new and exciting, as I often do, it’s all I can do to restrain myself from diving headlong into it. I’m not an old photo pro, but I know enough to recognise a good thing when I see it.
It can be daunting when viewing the work of highly accomplished photographers who have perfected their craft over decades. You may well be inspired, but you know you have a long journey ahead. That is, if you want to get anywhere near their level of skill.
And so it was a jaw-dropping moment when I accidentally came across ICM photos. ICM photography technique is the process of intentionally moving the camera while taking an exposure lasting between 2 and 5 seconds. And by moving the camera, I mean in a structured but unrestricted way, if that is not too ambiguous.
Expand creativity with ICM photography
ICM is short for intentional camera movement, a technique that produces ICM photos from which you can create unique pictures anyway you want them to look.
I watched a series of four videos by ‘On Landscape’ featuring Doug Chinnery demonstrating the technique of ICM producing pictures such as Silence above, which I captured on an early morning walk in the forest.
Be grateful for DSLR cameras
Thankfully we are in the digital age, as according to Doug Chinnery, I would have to take hundreds of ICM photos to get a few images that had potential. So I wasn’t expecting to have much success first time out. However, I was pleasantly surprised, and after two walks, processed about thirty decent pictures.
Putting it into practice
The next day I grabbed my camera and set off. I was going to put into practice as much of what Doug said as I could. Which more or less amounted to, ‘find an interesting place, and anywhere will do. Use any lens you like as long as you can get the shutter speed down to between 2 and 5 seconds. Point the camera at something. Focus it, push the button, wiggle the camera around and see what happens.’
That is a potted version, but the essence of ICM photography technique is in that paragraph.
The beauty of ICM photography
The beauty of ICM photography is there are no rules, so you can’t do anything wrong.
It’s a personal creative process with absolutely no barriers, limited only by your vision and ideas. You don’t have to travel the world to find stunning locations, where the world and his wife will be trying to take the same photos as everybody else.
I saw Table Mountain every day for nearly twenty years. It is stunningly beautiful, in its many guises. There must have been millions of photos taken over decades, many of which can be seen publicly.
Using intentional camera movement, you can create beautiful unique pictures, which are impossible to replicate. And without setting foot outside your front gate.
Beautiful Wall-Art from Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)
The fascinating technique of ICM or blurring images in camera before post-processing is gradually becoming an accepted genre of photography. It is practised by a few very accomplished professionals such as Michael Orton, Chris Friel and Doug Chinnery. And it’s a great way to make beautiful wall-art
Still in its infancy
One of the most exciting aspects of ICM photos is that ICM photography is in its infancy and so the possibilities haven’t been fully explored. Nature provides the canvas in the form of the landscape and you provide the brush, in the form of a camera, as an extension of yourself and your imagination.
Another very encouraging aspect, for the inexperienced photographer, is that the playing field at this juncture is still pretty level. By that, I mean, that for professional and experienced amateur photographers who are trying it out it is also a learning curve. As we all experiment nobody really knows yet where it will lead and how it may be applied in the future.
When I began I had been warned that most of the images captured would be dreadful and that I would be lucky to find 5 in 100 that were any good. So I was quite pleased to find 15 out of my first 100 that I quite liked considering I didn’t have much idea at the time. I must admit I dumped a few of them later.
This single image worked well
The hedgerow of blossoms I used as my starting canvas
The ICM image produced in the camera
The camera image – painted with Topaz Impression
2 images blended in Gimp produced something different
A flower and a garden backdrop blended and then processed in Lightroom
Then painted in Topaz Impression
Collection of Wall-art
For best results, watch video in FULL screen mode.
This collection of painted blurs is available in various prints, greeting cards and throw pillows from Fine Art America . It can also be customised to provide personalised unique prints.
Click on any image in Fine Art America to view the art displayed.
While I would love you to buy my art, why not try for yourself and see what you can produce. I can assure you it’s great fun but warn you it can become addictive.
Some Tips to get you started.
ICM Photography Technique capture
The basics of the technique are quite simple and require no technical knowledge. The following as a ‘rule of thumb’ has produced good results for me so far.
- Low light – early morning, dusk or a dull day are best
- Use a DSLR camera and shoot in RAW
- Set to manual – ISO 100 – F16 to F32 – Shutter speed 0.5 to 1 second.
- Fill the frame with the subject as much as possible to avoid cropping.
Experimenting with camera movement
I and encourage you to experiment as much as you can. But particularly experiment with movement until, like riding a bike, it becomes second nature. Gradually you will find the movements that work well, which you like and how fast or slow your movement should be in certain situations. Here are some of the moves you can make and build on, depending on your imagination and dexterity. They should be self-explanatory.
- Pan – Vertical, diagonal or horizontal
- Wave – Vertical, diagonal or horizontal
- Swirl – Keeping the camera horizontal and moving in a circular movement
- Twist – Twist the camera, keeping as stable as possible
- Drawing – Pulling the camera away from the subject towards you
- Pushing – Opposite to Drawing
- Zoom – Keeping the camera steady zoom in or out (better) from the subject.
- Combine – When you become comfortable with singular movements you can try combinations.
Some of the above movements can be used with a tripod. Others I wouldn’t advise in case of accident. As all images are blurred using a tripod seems pointless.
Post processing
It will be obvious when you see some images, they won’t make beautiful wall-art. But don’t be too heavy-handed when dumping stuff. Wait until you have processed a few hundred images. You never know what you may find.
I was amazed by the incredible hidden array of colours that nature served up. When I opened up the RAW files I used to capture my first images, I couldn’t wait to process them.
Here are a few tips which you may find useful when deciding how best to process your RAW images.
- Start with processing a single image. I use Adobe Lightroom as my starting point.
- Look at complimentary images and experiment by merging a few and see what you get. I use Gimp and Photomatix Pro and often merge between 2 and 6 images. Don’t be concerned if they are no good. You’ll never know if you don’t try. Sometimes you’ll be amazed.
- I then come back to Lightroom and process the merged files.
- Finally, think if your image may lend itself to an effects treatment such as you will find in Topaz Labs. I find Topaz Impression the best to create a collection of the Modern Abstract painted images for Wall Art you see in my slideshow. Read how I explain how to add it to Lightroom.
Final thoughts
ICM is relatively new so there are really no rules. However, don’t try and make beautiful wall-art out of a poor image. It won’t work. We live in a digital age so every shot is free. Take as many as you like but be creative, think about what you would like to produce and as with your other photography make the best image in camera, every time.
Have fun and let me know how you get on.
Yes Jackie. It is fascinating, full of surprises and quite addictive. Most practitioners of ICM whose work I’ve seen don’t paint the results like I do and which I think adds another dimension. You are right when you say the stuff posted here is more like modern art or abstract art. That is the intention. But all the pictures are created from nature photos which is what makes it so different.
I have been interested in this for a few years I would say this is more like ” modern art” I love the colors and very artistic as rely on the eye of the artist and not software. jackie