“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way—things I had no words for.”
Using a Camera as a Paintbrush: Blurring the Lines Between Photography and Art
You know that feeling when you’re staring at a blank canvas or a pristine digital layer, and all you want to do is make a mess? To just get lost in the color and form and see what happens? For the longest time, I thought that was strictly the domain of a paintbrush or a digital stylus. As a photographer, the idea was always to capture the world as I saw it—sharp, in focus, and as “real” as possible.
But what if the camera could be a paintbrush? What if the goal wasn’t to capture reality, but to create something new from it? This simple shift in perspective is what led me down the path of exploration, blurring the lines between painting and photography. In this post, I’ll walk you through two powerful techniques—Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) and Multiple Exposures—that turn your camera from a tool of documentation into a tool of creation. We’ll get a painterly, impressionistic effect without ever touching a brush or relying on AI. I’ll share how I do it, what I’ve learned, and what it looks like when it all comes together.
Why Ditch Reality for Abstraction? My Journey from Pixel-Perfect to Painterly
Like many of you, my creative process has always been a blend of different disciplines. I love the precision of Photoshop for editing and compositing, the tactile feel of drawing on a Huion tablet, and the improvisational nature of p5.js coding. The common thread in all of it is a desire to explore and experiment.
Photography always felt different. It was about capturing a moment or getting a high quality and faithful replication of what’s in front of me. But, because I’m always looking for new ways to be creative, I came across photographers who were getting more abstract and painterly with their cameras. So I began to wonder: could I bring that same sense of play and iteration to my photos? I wanted to translate some of that painterly feel—the soft edges, the blended colors, the emotion—into my photography.
The truth is, some of the most compelling art isn’t about perfect replication. It’s about feeling and impression. By letting go of the need for a perfectly sharp image, I discovered a creative freedom. It’s about using the light, the color, and the movement of a scene as your palette, and the camera as your brush.
Technique 1: Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)
What is it?
ICM photography is exactly what it sounds like: you intentionally move your camera during a long exposure. Instead of trying to keep the camera perfectly still on a tripod, you’re embracing the blur. This technique is often used to capture a sense of motion in landscapes, turning a forest into a series of vertical strokes or a sunset into a horizontal smear of color.
The featured image above is an example of the ICM technique in a wooded area in Loveland, Ohio, and is a single image taken at f22, ISO 100 with a 1.3second exposure. In order to get the blurred effect, I needed a longer exposure and since it was during the day, I needed to let much less light in by closing down the aperture at f22 (highest fstop for my camera).
Here’s some additional examples from the same location…
My Process
Find your “Canvas”: I look for scenes with strong colors and distinct lines, like a stand of trees or a sunset over a lake. The less clutter, the better.
Adjust your settings: The key is a slow shutter speed. Depending on the available light, I’ll start with something like 1/4th of a second, but you may need to go longer. I set my camera to a low ISO (like 100) and a small aperture (around f/16 or higher) to help extend the shutter time. Note that you may consider adding a neutral density (ND) filter to block even more light when taking longer exposures, especially during daylight hours.
Move with intent: This isn’t a random shake. I’ll often choose a specific motion:
Vertical: For trees or cityscapes, I’ll move the camera straight up or down.
Horizontal: For water or a horizon, I’ll pan left or right.
Zoom: I’ll zoom the lens in or out while the shutter is open for a cool, radiating blur.
Embrace the randomness: The beauty of ICM is that every single shot is a surprise. I’ll take dozens of photos, each with a slightly different movement or speed. Most will be unusable, but a few will have that “Aha!” moment.
By the way, although I typically do this with my full-frame DSLR camera (Nikon D780), it IS possible to do this with your iPhone using apps which allow for longer exposures. I use the Spectre app for my long exposure experiments.
Technique 2: Multiple Exposures
What is it?
This technique, found in many digital cameras, allows you to combine two or more images into a single frame, right in the camera. The camera effectively “paints” one image on top of another. It’s like having a digital equivalent of a double exposure from the film days. I typically don’t use this approach as I feel having many layers and the additional flexibility to alter the position and opacity of layers provides a more painterly image. The in-camera approach is better suited for double exposures to provide a surreal or a textured effect to your primary subject.
Typical “In-Camera” Process:
Set up your camera: Find the multiple exposure function in your camera’s menu. I’ll typically set it to combine 2-3 images and choose an “additive” or “average” blend mode.
Shoot your first image: This will be your base layer. I often start with a more abstract or textured element, like the bark of a tree, a textured wall, or a photo with a strong color palette.
Shoot your second image: This is where you get to play. I’ll often layer a second, more recognizable element on top. Maybe the silhouette of a person or a simple architectural shape. The key is to find images that will complement each other rather than just creating a muddy mess.
My More Flexible, Painterly, Process:
Decide your Intent: Because you will be taking many images in this approach, you’ll need to decide whether you want to get a 360 degree view of the subject or some other perspective. In any case, the idea is to take many images that are slightly offset versus the previous. In both examples below, I’ve gone for the 360 view approach.
Choose your settings: Because these images will be merged, you want to use identical settings for every image. I typically set everything based on the first image and stick with that for all others. Of course you can deviate from this to experiment with different effects, but this approach provides the best overall results.
Shoot your images: Shoot your first image, then shift your position and shoot again. If you chose the 360 degree view approach, you’ll want to either 1) rotate the subject 10-20 degrees, or 2) move yourself 10-20 degrees around the subject, keeping your distance from the subject the same.
Merge your images: This is where you get to play. There’s a number of ways an applications which allow laying of images so I won’t attempt to explain them all. I use photoshop but the approach will be similar. Just load all your images into the image editing application as separate layers. Then, lower the opacity of each layer to about 25% or less. This allows you to sequentially position each layer in the best position on top of all previous layers. Do this until all layers are completed. There’s no science, so just go for something that “looks good” to you and adjust the layers until you get the desired final effect.
After merging those 10 images, I added an 11th image of scratched plexiglass as an overlay to give it a bit more texture. The completed image is below. Hopefully, you will agree this a much more artistic image than any of the images above on their own.
In the bottle example, I rotated the bottle. In the following example, I took 36 images while walking around this colorful fall tree. In this case it provided a textured and ghostly effect. This is because the tree was surronded by other trees highlighting that you do need to think about what you want the outcome to be before you pick your subject.
Reflection: What I Learned and Why I Keep Coming Back to It
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from these techniques is that the goal isn’t always to capture a perfect image. It’s more about getting creative and more loose in your apporach. It’s about finding that sweet spot where you’re not just a photographer, but a visual artist using a different set of tools.
Not all of your images will be great, In fact, most will not. By embracing imperfection and letting go of a rigid process, I’ve found a new well of inspiration. I’m no longer just seeing a photo op; I’m seeing light, color, and form as raw materials, ready to be painted with. I encourage you to grab your camera, forget everything you know about “the right way to take a picture,” and just play. The results might surprise you.
As always, I’d love to answer any questions or hear your thoughts in the comments below!
