Understanding Shutter Speed

 

 Who wants to take better pictures?  Skip to the * if you want fewer details.

     There is way more to taking great (or even good) pictures than just owning a nice camera.  As great as cameras are these days they still can't make the decisions we can to get the images you want.

     Here are some pictures that automatic settings could never have come close to capturing.

     There are all kinds of things that go in to making a great picture.  A lot of people are only aware of exposure.  They place the subject in the center of the picture and snap the shot.  If it isn't too dark or too light they are satisfied.  There are ways to show emotion, personality, movement and to evoke feelings that you can't do with just a proper exposure alone.

     Here are some pictures I feel show emotion that required proper lighting technique, composition and camera settings.

     Great pictures are made of interesting/beautiful subject matter, proper lighting for what you wish to convey, a composition that draws the eyes around the picture and more.

     Let's start with an easy one: something we all have some knowledge of already.  Shutter Speed.

     Maybe we should start with what a shutter is.  There are actually many types of shutters.  Most, if not all, camera phones use an electrical shutter. This is just a signal that turns the camera sensor on to simulate the shutter being open and off to simulate the shutter being closed.   DSLR's use a physical shutter.  A mechanical shutter is actually a curtain (or can be a leaf shutter) which opens, allowing light in for the set amount of time and closes again when the proper amount of light has been exposed to the sensor.  

     Shutter speed is the amount of time you set for the shutter to be open allowing light in to the sensor.  If you close your eyes and then hold them open long enough to wave your hand in front of your face before closing them again your mind processes that motion, but if you had to condense all of that information into a single still image it would be a blur of your hand moving across the image.  Now, if you were able to open and close your eyes fast enough you would get an image of your hand completely still in front of your face.  

   *  So, the slower your shutter speed the more motion will show up in your picture.  The faster your shutter speed, the more motion you can eliminate from your picture.  As a rule of thumb to keep motion blur out of your image (with a standard focal length lens), keep your shutter speed at 1/160 of a second or faster for a portrait.  The shutter speed can be slower than that if you are using a tripod.  I usually am wary of shooting under 1/250 with a 50mm lens without a tripod.  Keep in mind though that  the more zoom you have, the more camera shake shows up in your picture. This will require a faster shutter speed.

     The other effect of shutter speed is how much light the sensor absorbs.  The faster the shutter speed the less the sensor is exposed to light.  That means a darker image.  If you have a slow shutter speed the sensor will have more time to absorb the light and give you a brighter image.

     I used a 30 second shutter speed in this pictures of the stars while I was in Peru.  However, I had not accounted for the spinning of the earth and when I zoomed in on the picture at home I noticed the stars all had a slight motion blur from left to right.

     For me, I want to eliminate motion blur in most of my photos.  So the faster my subject, the faster I need my shutter speed.  If I am shooting running kids. I may increase the shutter speed to 1/800 of a second.  Actually, as long as there is plenty of light, it can't hurt (as long as you don't want motion blur) to increase your shutter speed as much as you want.  I have shot at 1/8000 of a second before on bright sunny days with a wide aperture. <we will get to aperture in a future post>

Here is an image that required a slower shutter speed for the look I wanted.  I wanted to show that the train was moving in this photo so I had to choose an appropriately slow shutter speed.   I shot this in 2009 and it is still one of my favorites.

This is another one of my favorites where I wanted the opposite effect.  You know from the content that the motion is there, so I wanted to stop the motion of both the dancer and the water droplets.  (Thank you Taylor for asking for this shot- it was a fun challenge)  A lot of proper flashwork and camera settings were required to get this shot- along with an exceptional dancer!

In summrary: Fast shutter speed = less light  and less motion

                       Slow shutter speed= more light and more motion.

     Most cameras have a Shutter Priority feature that allows you to adjust the shutter speed while the camera adjusts the rest of the settings for proper exposure.  On Canon cameras it is probably labeled Tv.  This is a good way to get used to adjusting your shutter speed and understanding how it affects your pictures.

     Comment below if you enjoyed this entry.

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