Laurence Balterartist with cameras

Education / Impressionism

Painting with time

The Impressionists wanted the impression of a moment, not its detail. A slow shutter and a moving subject get to the same place with time instead of paint.

The name came from a blur

In 1872 Claude Monet painted the harbor at Le Havre at sunrise in loose, quick strokes and called it Impression, Sunrise. The orange sun and its reflection matter more than any detail.

At an exhibition in Paris in 1874 a critic mocked the painting and the group that showed it, and the name Impressionists stuck.

Their goal was not the detail of a scene but the impression of a moment: light, movement, atmosphere. A long exposure does the same thing, with time instead of paint.

Color long exposure of a figure in silhouette against a glowing orange sunset over the sea

Sun, sea and a figure, softened by time.

Six painters of light and movement

Turner’s blurred storms and steam came first. These painters took the idea outdoors.

Claude Monet

Painted one subject at different hours (haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, water lilies) to show light changing over time.

Impression, Sunrise · Haystacks

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Dappled light on moving crowds, as in Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (1876). Faces soft, mood exact.

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette

Edgar Degas

Dancers caught mid-movement and cropped like snapshots. Gesture mattered more to him than detail.

The Dancing Class · Blue Dancers

Berthe Morisot

Quick, loose brushwork and bright light. She showed in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.

The Cradle · Summer’s Day

Eugène Boudin

Painted the Normandy beaches outdoors and urged the young Monet to paint from life.

Boudin on Wikipedia

Joaquín Sorolla

Spanish painter of sunlit beaches: wind in white dresses, light on wet sand.

Walk on the Beach

Tone and gesture: black and white

Without color, the arc of an arm and the light on the water are all that is left. Faces and edges give way to white dresses, water and haze.

Black and white motion blur of a figure in a white dress at the water’s edge
Black and white long exposure of two figures joining hands over the shallows
Black and white long exposure of two figures walking through shallow surf
Black and white long exposure of a couple dancing at the water’s edge
Black and white long exposure of a couple running hand in hand toward the sea
Black and white portrait of a woman in a flowing dress walking along the water’s edge as waves break behind her

What the brush did, the shutter can do

Each Impressionist habit has a photographic twin.

The painterThe photographer
Visible, broken brushstrokesStreaks of motion blur
Soft edges instead of outlinesA slow shutter on a moving subject
Light and color before detailWarm, low light and open skies
One moment of light, not a frozen instantSeconds of time in one frame

Warm light on moving water

Monet chased light. The camera does it faster, but the instinct is the same. Hands joined, the figures hold while the water breaks around them, and dresses and surf catch the last warm light.

Color long exposure of a dancer in a red dress against golden sunlit water
Color long exposure of a figure in an orange top with arms open, in the surf at dusk
Color long exposure of three women holding hands and splashing through golden sunset surf
Color photograph of three women dancing in the surf under a blue evening sky
Color photograph of two women in pale dresses dancing at the water’s edge at sunset
Color long exposure of two figures in white dresses running along the shore at sunset

Paint with your shutter

Four habits for impressionist photographs.

  1. Slow the shutter. Try roughly 1/4 s to 1 s, enough for movement to streak. In bright light, add an ND filter. The long exposure lesson has the stop math.

  2. Let the subject move. Ask for a spin, a walk or a wave of the arm. Water and wind add their own motion.

  3. Hold one thing still. Brace the camera and keep the horizon level, so the blur has something to push against.

  4. Shoot many frames. Most will miss. Keep the one where the gesture reads and the light is right.

Motion as brushwork

Blur carries the movement; the face and the light carry the feeling.

Color long exposure of a couple dancing on the shore at dusk
Color long exposure of a woman in a blue dress walking in the surf at sunset
Color long exposure of a woman in a cream dress with arms raised, dancing on the beach at dusk

Color, turned up

Strong blue and teal: the bright beach light Sorolla painted. Quick figures against long bands of color, and one figure holding still while the sea streaks past.

Color long exposure of a woman in a white dress with arms outstretched before a deep blue sky and teal sea
Color long exposure of a woman in a white dress walking past a streaked blue sea and sky
Color long exposure of a girl in a floral dress running along the shore beside a teal sea
Color long exposure of a woman in a cream dress running through the surf beside a teal sea
Color long exposure of a woman in a green dress seen from behind, facing a teal sea
Color long exposure of a woman in a green striped dress walking toward the sea

Laughter, blurred

Faces stay readable while everything around them moves. Time is the brush.

Color long exposure of a woman in a dark floral dress raising a bouquet before turquoise water
Color photograph of a woman and a girl in white dresses playing in the shallows
Color long exposure of a woman in a blue dress carrying a bouquet through shallow surf at sunset

Impressionism in Street Photography

The street does the same work without a beach. Crowds, glass, reflections and passing light blur the detail and leave the feeling of a moment. These are frames where the impression won over the detail.

Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Impressionist street photograph by Laurence Balter
Try it with meStart with the long exposure lesson for the tripod routine and the stop math, then bring the same slow shutter to a moving subject. I also teach this on location at workshops.
NextLong exposure, step by step →Infrared & black-and-white →