Creative Use of Shutter Speed
This Lapped-Faced Vulture was frozen during take off by using a fast shutter speed (1-640 sec).
Show me a good photographer and I will show you someone who understands the basic camera controls. Mastery of photography’s fundamentals is more then just an academic exercise. It is a key to understanding the technical and creative controls that are available to a photographer. Nowhere is this more obvious then in the use of shutter speed.
As I explained here, shutter speed impacts the amount of light reaching the digital sensor. Fast shutter speeds hold the shutter open for a brief period of time, permitting only a little light to reach the digital sensor. Slow shutter speeds hold the shutter open for longer, allowing more light to reach the sensor. Used in combination with the lens aperture, shutter speed provides control over the final exposure. What is less well known is that shutter speed also provides control over how motion will be recorded in the final picture.
Wildebeest running on the Savannah frozen using a shutter speed of 1/125 sec.
Wildebeests running on the savannah. Blur effect created using a shutter speed of 1/5 sec.
By controlling the amount of time the camera’s shutter is open, the shutter speed also controls the amount of time the sensor is exposed to movement. A fast shutter speed will only be exposed to a small amount of subject movement while a slower shutter speed will be exposed to more movement as it remains open for longer. As a result, fast shutter speeds tend to freeze the subject in place. A flying bird will be frozen in the air with every feather fully detailed. Slow shutter speeds, in contrast, will result in a blurring as the subject moves across the image. By deliberately selecting a specific shutter speed, it becomes possible for the photographer to depict subject motion in a variety of different ways.
Walking Cheetah froze in place using a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec.
Same Cheetah walking on the savannah using a shutter speed of 1/10 sec.
The cheetah above was slowly walking along the edge of the road in the Serengeti. As we drove alongside, I altered my shutter speed, transforming a fairly static subject into a record of movement. In this case, a shutter speed of 1/10 of a sec produced the desired combination of blur and sharpness that I was looking for. At no time was this cheetah moving faster then a slow walk, but the final image implies the motion for which these cats are famous.
What shutter speed should you use? Unfortunately, there is no single correct answer for this question. The best shutter speed depends greatly on how fast the subject is moving, how steady the camera is, and how much of a blur effect is desired. Rapidly moving subjects will require faster shutter speeds to freeze motion while slow moving subjects might require several seconds to produce any noticeable blur. I find the best results are usually obtained by changing the shutter speeds and playing. Who knows, you might surprise yourself with the results.
[...] Previously in the understanding photograph series; I discussed the basic camera controls. In that discussion, I explained how shutter speed and aperture work together to control the amount of light used to record an image. Understanding these two controls are really the key to photography, both technically and creatively. For more detail about shutter speed and how it impacts motion, click here. [...]
What the Heck is Aperture? « Through the lens with Chris Gamel said this on October 12, 2009 at 11:12 AM |