I’ve discussed the high-end retail on Bahnhofstrasse over the last several posts but haven’t shown the street. Now, you can get a flavor of the neighborhood. But my real purpose for the pictures was the trams, of course. I’ve already talked about how I love these transportation systems in a city and have featured them in a couple of previous posts.

Frequency is essential for any public transportation, and we saw many trams during our short walk on Bahnhofstrasse. The whoosh of them passing by inspired me to create motion-blurred images helped via in-body image stabilization (IBIS). I hand-held the camera at 1/4 and 1/5 of a second.

I also wanted a nice background for my blurred trams; this first image is my favorite.

The motion blur is not as apparent in this photo, but it’s there. The subtle effect sets the tram apart from its sharp surrounding environment.

This last picture has the best blur. The amount of blur depends on the distance to the subject and the speed at which it’s moving. Also, the amount of blur is important. Too little and it just looks out of focus. Too much motion, and it becomes an abstract mess.

I spent more time than I should making these, and there are many more that I chose not to post. The hit rate of a perfect blur was diminished since I didn’t have the benefit of a rock-steady tripod. IBIS makes things easier but requires more attempts.

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