shutter speed

photo study: shutter speed

This week’s photo study is an exploration of shutter speed.  Shutter speed, a basic photographic component, is defined as the amount of time your camera allows light to enter your camera.  The variables of a scene being photographed together with the size of aperture and the shutter speed have the potential to create unique images.

A fast shutter speed will freeze moving objects.

prayerflagsweb

Nikon D750     f/5.6   1/2,500  300mm   100 ISO

While fast shutter speeds create crisp and sharp images, slow shutter speeds — open for half a second or longer – extends the length of time light is entering your camera.  This light is continuously  being influenced by the motion within the scene and thus creating blurry, foggy, silky, or milky elements within an image.

shutterspeed-3web

Nikon D750    f/22    1s    35mm    100 ISO

longexposurehorsetoothweb

Nikon D750    f/8   241s   24mm   100 ISO

The shutter speed in panning photography can be as low as 1/20 or as fast as 1/125.  The trick is to match the speed of the subject with your speed of panning.  The inclusion of motion blur within street photography is often created with a high aperture setting, a low as possible ISO, and a low shutter speed.

shutterspeedweb

Nikon D750   f/29   1/6s  75mm  100 ISO

tourdefatweb

Nikon D750   f/9    1/20s     85mm     320 ISO

The images below are examples of various shutter speeds with the same aperture and ISO settings.

shutterspeed-2web

Nikon D750     f/7.1    1/60s   35mm    100 ISO

shutterspeed-7web

Nikon D750     f/7.1    1/30s    35mm    100 ISO

shutterspeed-6web

Nikon D750     f/7.1   1/20s    35mm    100 ISO

Thank you for taking the time to visit.  I hope you enjoy Ted Forbes’ discussion of shutter speed and his nighttime images.  Would love to hear your thoughts and see your creative work.

Learning Photography

f5.6_2.5

Nikon D750   f/5.6   2.5s   40mm   ISO 100

 

f8_2.5

Nikon D750   f/8   2.5s   40mm   ISO 100

f11_1.30

Nikon D750   f/11   1.30s   40mm   ISO 100

f6.3_1.3

Nikon D750   f/6.3   1.30s   40mm   ISO 100

After pondering the feedback about the image I submitted for RAJ’s closeup/macro lesson, I realized my understanding of shutter speed was a bit fuzzy and in need of  study.  So with a bean bag for camera support and the Nikon set on auto-focus (I did not want to be impeded by my lack of experience with manual focus), I experimented with 40 various macro images of  peppercorn and Himalayan salt.  Of the four posted above, my preference is f/11 at 1.30 seconds.

The image I submitted for RAJ’s “frame your subject” lesson was revisited to darken the lit rectangle on the left as it was noted to be a distraction.

pc_frameweb

Before

pc-frame2web

After

 

RAJ’s notation about the sunflower image in portrait mode brought to mind a photo article about how, as a camera moves closer, an peanut in a match box transforms from an image of a peanut to one of a piece of sculpture.  In the sunflower image (right) I cropped the image in portrait and followed up with a bit of clean up along the bottom with Photoshop’s content-fill.

Before
After

Jump on over to RAJ’s Photography Lesson to begin a great learning experience.