I was introduced to the zoom blur in a film photography course in college.  I love using this trick and when you try it with lights in your image you get a light writing effect with a sense of motion!

I was inspired to give our Christmas Tree a “Star Wars” like effect and show my boys!

Some of the secret is trial and error to get the look you want.

I used my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens to get this zoom effect.  I steadied my camera on the coffee table in front of the tree (or use a tripod).  I tried a few different shutter speeds but I liked the settings: Shutter Speed 1/8 sec, f/8.0, ISO 2000 with an in camera Kelvin temperature of 3650.

While the shutter is open turn the zoom lens ring quickly to either zoom in or zoom out.  That is what makes the light writing effect!

In the second image below I focused on the Monkey ornament to make it stand out against the zoom effect!

Have fun experimenting!

If you would like to to learn more advance techniques sign up for my workshop Capturing Imagery With Purpose: Exploring Advanced Photography which will run in early 2017 and you can see the full syllabus and register HERE.

The workshop’s course summary is for participants to learn advanced photography techniques and gain the technical abilities to skillfully, purposefully, and creatively produce stronger images to match their vision through weekly lessons and assignments.