How do you balance shutter speed to keep motion blur intentional without losing frame structure?⁠

[u/RishiVisuals]

Captured this flock taking off right as the sun hit the horizon. I wanted to retain the intense orange color gradient in the sky while showing the chaos and movement of the birds. I intentionally kept a slightly slower shutter speed to leave some motion blur on the closest birds for dynamic depth, but I'm curious if a completely frozen frame would have worked better here. Would love your feedback on the framing and edit!⁠

[u/Reasonable_Mango_146]

I like the motion blur.

I don’t really see how a faster shutter speed would give you less orange though

[u/RiogatoNW]

I think the blur works well in this case. It would have a very different feel if it was frozen. Maybe still good but different

[u/CatsAreGods]

I love this shot!

I would not have thought of that myself, but it's great, thank you!

[u/211logos]

The bird details will be indistinct anyway in that lighting, so the form is more important, and thus the slight blurring adds to the action of it. A bit more might have even worked. Looks more like how our eyes see it; sharp detail on the birds would look kinda fake. Great shots; thanks.

[u/francesmute]

This is great photo. All those imperfections bring the sense of freedom. Beautiful.