Theme: Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) is an artistic photography technique where you deliberately move your camera during an exposure to create an impressionistic, painterly blur.

How to Enter

• Submit 1 JPEG(long side 1920px, 144 PPI)
• Email to:Contest@tcpcinc.org
• Please use a title for the filename:A concise one to four-word title for the image.
• Format:No watermarks or text on the image itself.
• Include:Your full name in the body of the email.

Judging Criteria

Recommended Camera Settings

• Shutter Speed: Set a slow shutter speed, typically between 1/8th of a second and 2 seconds. Start around 1/4s or 1/2s for many landscape and wave effects.
• ISO: Keep your ISO as low as possible (such as ISO 100) to reduce light sensitivity and noise.
• Aperture: Adjust your aperture (f-stop) to help control the exposure and reach your target slow shutter speed. In bright daylight, you may need a narrow aperture like f/22 or a Neutral Density (ND) filter to block extra light.]
• Focus & Stabilization: Lock your focus using autofocus, then switch your lens to manual focus so it doesn’t hunt mid-movement. Turn off image stabilization.

  Basic Movement Techniques

• Vertical Panning: Move the camera straight up and down. This works great on vertical subjects like trees or tall buildings.
• Horizontal Panning: Move the camera smoothly from left to right. This works well for horizons, oceans, and moving vehicles.
• Zoom Burst: Use a zoom lens and twist the zoom ring in or out smoothly during the exposure.
• Rotation or Wiggle: Twist the camera in a circular motion for kaleidoscope effects, or add diagonal wiggles for abstract, ethereal art.

Pro Tips for Success

• Start moving first: Begin moving your camera through the motion before you press the shutter button, and keep moving until after the exposure finishes. This avoids a jerky start.
• Shoot handheld: Leaving the tripod behind gives you more fluid, flexible control over your body and arm movements.
• Experiment and adapt: ICM is unpredictable; take many frames and tweak your shutter speed or pan speed based on what looks best.