Motion

Alan,

I liked the first one.

Steve Thomas

Me too. From a technical point of view, the degree of motion blur results from the angular velocity relative to the lens axis at the time of the capture. For a given spatial velocity, stuff further away has less motion blur ... and stuff traveling at an angle to the lens axis has blur e.g. head on = no blur...

For the train passengers, if the motion is due only to the camera motion up and down vertically relative to the good people i.e. shift but no tilt, it might not look right ?

Another vote for 1. The movement of the roundabout in the image is purposeful in interpreting the scene.
I don't get the same feeling of purpose in 2. The direction of movement shown suggests jolting and I don't think that's the intended purpose. The vertical movement acts against a feeling of depth down the carriage. Compare it with the image from Chris Oly "Tube" in this week's "C&C." He has also tried to get the tube of a carriage. The lines he uses run lengthways.

In Chris Oly's image there is no motion blur at all ... neither near nor far ...

No, but he used line going the length of the carriage to convey the shape. I suggest that if Alan is trying, as he states, to convey the feeling of movement and length of the carriage, as experienced by passengers, the movement in the image is running the wrong way.

"I tried to capture it in motion and give a feeling of speed."

Not exactly a word that discribes a merry-go-round, mind you i was at a market 10 years ago with my then 11 yold and the operator turned up the speed
of a kids merry-go-round and the horses and kids were flying horizontal 🫣
back to your image, there is nothing that works with the image for me. you need to shoot the riders as they are passing you, not "passed".
the shutter speed is also to slow,you still need to see the shape and some detail of the subject not completly obliterate it all together. my2c

Suggested crop of the second image:

The first is good!
The movement has been blurred to a point where it becomes a fantasy.
... Maybe, like in a kid's film, where a merry-go-round goes round faster and faster and faster and then suddenly transports the kids into a different world with a time jump, taking them 100 years back ;-)

The first one serves your purpose, but if I were doing this, I would approach it differently. I would have chosen a shutter speed of around 1/10. This would blur the objects to convey a sense of speed while preserving their form better. It would give you the shape of the horse while still maintaining the motion blur. Additionally, it would help reduce overexposure in other parts of the frame.
In terms of framing, I would try to fill the entire frame with the carousel to avoid overexposed areas, or alternatively, take the shot at night to create a black surrounding.It’s nice to have an anchor in this type of shot, like the one you have at the edge of the frame. I’d consider positioning it in the middle of the carousel and, if possible, finding a more interesting subject to focus on.