Science Fiction

One thought:

There are two types of motion blur. Either the object is moving relative to the camera (as in this example). Or, the camera is tracking the object and the result is a blurred background.

Personally, I think the ship is the most import component of the scene. The background here is awesome, but the ship what the shot is about.

I'd mask the ship, and apply any blur to the scene/background. No sense detailing a cool ship just to make it blurry :)

Two quick examples pulled off an online image search:

I do like this next image, but so many details on the ship are lost:

Fred, the idea here is that the ship is dropping out of WARP, so he is trying to capture that moment when it does.  In the Star trek universe, when ships drop out of WARP, they appear to come to a sudden halt.  And when they engage, they appear to Almost vanish.  Doppler effect of light is what is happening (I think). Since I don't have any "real" rendering programs, I can't play with this one. :(

That was the general Idea I had.....dropping out of warp...front of the ship is sharp and visible while the back is stil in motion and slightly transparent, but I want it to be a bit more "dramatic"

something like this, is a ittle bit better.....

something like this....

Here's a live image I took awhile back of a runner sprinting to the finish line at a 5K.

I guess the real question is are you happy with the placement of everything in the frame and, when you look at it, does your eye travel over the image the way you were intending it to?

Where's your center of interest?

Michael, I think I understand the desired effect now.

It is an interesting challenge. How is extreme speed portrayed in a static image? With video there are some options available, but a still shot is difficult.

I found this image of a ship about to enter warp speed. It is interesting because again the front is in focus while the rear is blurred and stretched out behind.

In Hans' photo the same effect is occurring, but the ship is slowing down. I think this image should show the front speeding/stretching away while the rear is in focus:

Moving along to other photos which depict extreme speed, I found this image of The Flash. In this case the "speed" is depicted by a dramatic pose, and LOTS of effects.

Maybe The Flash is better suited for "during warp", but it shows the difficulty of showing speed with a static image. I found this image interesting because both The Flash, and the background remain in focus without motion blur. It is really relying on the motion lines (like from cartoons), and the lightning and debris:

It is an interesting problem. I'm going to try some Photoshop myself.