the power of Imprints
A role I’ve taken on to a greater degree more recently, is sharing my experiences with ICM, along with the knowledge I’ve gathered along the way. Advising others in this way has pushed me to focus my thoughts and reflect more deeply on the different elements that shape my understanding today.
As I look through some of my favorite works, one characteristic stands out more than I ever expected. It’s a technique I now use almost instinctively when shooting ICM, something I’ve come to describe as “Imprinting.”
Although ICM photography has grown in popularity in recent years, the terminology around specific techniques is still developing. Like many others, I’ve either created or adopted terms used by another along the way to help describe a technique. ‘Imprint’ is one of those words, selected as it aptly describes the process.
At its core, I define an Imprint as a moment during an ICM exposure when the camera is held steady. This pause essentially “imprints” the essence of the scene in front of the lens onto the sensor. When combined with intentional movement, it produces a striking effect. Unlike traditional ICM, which typically involves continuous motion throughout the exposure, Imprinting allows a portion of the original subject’s character to remain visible.
This is best demonstrated by examples
In this series, the first image shows a snowy winter scene. Traditional ICM (as seen in the second image) typically uses movement that follows the main lines of contrast, with the amount of motion chosen to help preserve the essence of the trees.
The final image, however, demonstrates the effect of Imprinting: the scene is briefly held steady before the camera is moved, all while the shutter remains open. As a result, the true character of the trees is retained, while the ICM movement adds an extra layer of depth and dimension.
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Another example explores the imprint effect on Hosta leaves. I wanted their familiar shapes and textures to remain recognizable, while at the same time allowing the movement to transform them into something more abstract and artsy.
All of our discussions so far have involved opening the shutter, holding the camera steady to create an imprint, and then moving the camera to introduce motion before the shutter closes. But imprinting isn’t limited to a single instance, imagine the effect if the camera movement is paused multiple times during an exposure.
The following images show examples where camera motion was suspended repeatedly to capture brief imprints on the sensor, some more pronounced than others.
Now that you have a sense of how powerful Imprints can be, I encourage you to consider adding this approach to your own ICM technique repertoire.
For now, I’ll leave you with a selection of images that showcase this technique. As always, your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated, and if you try it yourself, I’d love to see the results you create.
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